In May 2023, Theodor introduced us to a Herzl never imagined: young, clean-shaven and anxiously making a bid to be accepted into a nationalist Viennese student fraternity that was anything but friendly to Jews. Only while living in Paris during the Dreyfus trial did his doubts about assimilation emerge, even as he still found solace in the operas of Wagner, a notorious antisemite.
A dialogue between Herzl as a student in Vienna and Herzl during his time as a journalist in Paris is depicted in the new Israeli opera Theodor, by composer Yonatan Cnaan and librettist Ido Ricklin, chosen by Opera Now magazine as one of the world’s best productions of the year.
Join us for the US premiere, a screening of a filmed performance of the opera, in Hebrew with English titles, supplemented by live performances by original cast members Oded Reich (Herzl), Noam Heinz (Theodor) and Anat Czarny (Julie), accompanied by the show’s composer, Yonatan Cnaan.
