Phantom adds fun to Purim Spiel

The Purim Spiel is a community favourite and this year it didn’t hold back with The Phantom of The Babka, a fun-filled night of music loosely inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of The Opera, which was staged last week at a purpose-built outdoor and undercover theatre at Caulfield Racecourse.

Set around the Purim story, Esther (played by Amira Susskind), Ahashverosh (Solly Silverstein) and Mordechai (David Wittenberg) were held hostage by Haman (Ari Goldberg) in Glicks.

Under the helm of producer Talia Boltin and the direction of Eitan Meyerowitz, the show was a great success with laughter from the audience throughout. The cast of 34 community members featured new talent and performers from previous Purim Spiels.

Boltin told the AJN “the Spiel is always such a highlight of the year. I love that we are able to maintain this ancient tradition but bring it into a totally relevant, current context and in the process, bring together an incredibly diverse group of people, united by a love of community, performing arts, and the spirit of chesed.”

The selection of songs was eclectic with parody renditions of classics, musical theatre, rap and pop. Highlights of the night included “Don’t Go Breaking Shabbat” and an opera performance by Adrian Glaubert as the Phantom.

Actor Ari Goldberg said, “Being back on stage in the Purim Spiel this year was amazing. After the last few years of Covid restrictions, the cast were buzzing and the excitement from the audience was palpable,” adding “I consider myself lucky to have been able to work with and perform alongside the incredibly talented cast and production team!”

Proceeds from the Purim Spiel go to Emunah, a Zionist women’s social welfare organisation which operates children’s day care centres, residential homes and crisis intervention centres for kids at risk, plus schools and training colleges in Israel.