The UAE's ongoing love affair with big-hearted stage musicals continues, with news that Grease is coming to town.
Known for inspiring the beloved film of the same name, the original musical will run for a week at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), from April 7-13.
Grease comes to us direct from the UK's Curve Theatre in Leicester. However audiences expectations might be significantly higher than if the show was hosted the same time last year – following a splash of big budget musicals arriving at the new, neighbouring Dubai Opera.
Since opening five-months ago, that purpose-built venue has hosted hotly hyped runs of blockbusters Cats and Les Misérables, and is all set to welcome West Side Story for five nights from February 14, as well as Mary Poppins in May.
Put simply – Grease will have its work cut out. DWTC has hosted musicals before, most memorably a 20-show run of Chicago in 2013 – a quality production let down by a less-than-ideal venue.
Karim Yafaoui, managing director of local promoters 6ix Degrees Entertainment, sought to reassure audiences about the choice of venue.
“DWTC’s central location, and its state of the art venue, with flexible halls and capabilities make it the ideal location for this event,” he said.
Hopefully the tunes will speak for themselves. After all, Grease is the audience favourite which gave us everyday anthems Summer Nights, Grease Lightnin', Hopelessly Devoted to You and You're the One That I Want.
Originally hosted in Chicago in 1971, and later and splashing onto New York’s Broadway and London’s West End, writers Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s score became immortalised in the public conciseness following the 1978 smash film, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
This fresh production was reportedly seen by close to 50,000 people Leicester’s Curve Theatre.
Tickets, priced from Dh150, are available from www.platinumlist.net.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Ferrari
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
