( note : most of the ra file is in Hebrew )
| Shilon : | About the guy that you see now clapping his hands ( referring to Gaines) it can be easily said that he is "The king of musicals" as he is "the king" of "Phantom of the Opera." He has performed 1,937 times in this most successful London and Broadway musical - his name is Davis Gaines. Good evening! The reason Davis is with us, sits next to him. (His is) a phenomenal sucess story, an Israeli who went to Hollywood and, with "his 10 fingers" he succeeded "bigtime" with a huge production company. He used to be a musician in Israel, and now he creates it in Hollywood - Shuki Levy. |
Inteview - Part 2 ( note : most of the ra file is in Hebrew )
| Shilon : | 1,937 times Phantom of the Opera ? |
| Gaines : | Thats a lot, right ? |
| Shilon : | You are not bored , right? |
| Gaines : | No..I love it! |
| Shilon : | (Shilon translates to Hebrew) As I said, he is here tonight for a very spectacular and huge project that Shuki Levy is bringing. We will talk about it later tonight -- but in one sentence now .. |
| Shilon : (to Levy) | Ofra Haza (an Israeli singer sitting next to Levy) "made it" big, (though) for Davis it's more natural, as he was born there. But you? The Israeli who performed in the little clubs of Tel-Aviv (Levy: Right! That's where we started.), connected to Haim Saban and using your "20 fingers," you built "Saban Entertainment". |
| Levy : | Till today we dont know what happened here.... |
| Shilon : | Empire ! |
| Levy : | To this day, its not really clear what happened..;-) |
| Shilon : | Do the *Americans* understand how it happened to you? |
| Levy : | No..they are the MOST surprised. We came from the "left field" , as it's said in America, without any "anouncing in advance....." without a plan or an aim, we just knew we wanted to do something different. And we did! |
| Shilon : | As Americans call it: chutzpah? |
| Levy : | Yes..lots...LOTS of chutzpah. Especially Haim Saban. |
| Shilon : | Thats the name of thegame? How much of it is luck, and how much talent..how much chutzpah? |
| Levy : | I do not believe in luck. I believe in the gut feeling. I always believed that we are going in a certain direction....we always believed in ourselves, somehow.. |
Main interview
( including word premiere of 'Somewhere in The Night sung by Davis Gaines and Rinat Gabay )( note : most of teh ra file is in Hebrew )
| Shilon: | (to Levy - referring to the previous item - a genius 16 years old "businessman") With such an ambition, can he find his future in your world? |
| Levy: | Absolutely, 100%. It reminds me of myself, somehow. |
| Shilon: | When YOU were 16, did you already know where you were going? |
| Levy: | I knew I had dreams, and I always went in the direction of those dreams. But I did a bit of everything at his age, obviously. |
| Shilon: | As I said before...you were a musician. You played music. Eventually you founded the duo 'Shuki and Aviva' and you performed in Europe at the beginning. |
| Levy: | Right! |
| Shilon: | You didn't have a lot of money. You lived from hand to mouth. |
| Levy: | I washed dishes in a restaurant in London. |
| Shilon: | And the dream was Hollywood? |
| Levy: | No, MY dream was to do EVERYTHING. To start with music, then to write scripts. To achieve a situation where I could cover everything -- the picture, the story, the music - everything that happens on-screen. |
| Shilon: | And you made it come true, together with your partner, Chaim Saban. |
| Levy: | Thanks to him. |
| Shilon: | Together with him. |
| Levy: | Yes, together with him. |
| Shilon: | You are more from a musical point of view, and Chaim is more from the business point of view. |
| Levy: | Exactly. |
| Shilon: | The Power Rangers were mentioned here before. THIS is a good example of a genius business venture. You entered at a point, and you caught the world's attention with it. |
| Levy: | And no matter how it seems -- to be an immediate overnight success -- it took us 7-8 years to try and sell it in America. It was ready years before it was broadcast the first time. But we really believed in it - it was different. Chaim took the cassette anywhere he went, till he sold it - and the rest is history. |
| Shilon: | You work a lot on children and youth-oriented TV projects |
| Levy: | Right. |
| Shilon: | And this is Chaim Saban's main specialty. |
| Levy: | Yes, especially. |
| Shilon: | And you are trying to do a lot in the world of animation business. |
| Levy: | Not only animation, but everything that is related to children. |
| Shilon: | And now you are going to make a dream come true. |
| Levy: | A huge dream! |
| Shilon: | To make a musical that will "hit" all the biggest musicals , at least from an investment point of view. |
| Levy: | Yes, well..my aim is NOT to hit anyone, but I think that the time has arrived for this musical. It's a musical that was years and years in my heart, and I waited for an opportunity to do it , and thank God, now I can. |
| Shilon: | So, first you created a CD, that exists already -- an album of this musical that you wrote, and you recorded it with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra ? |
| Levy: | Yes, the Moscow, and the singing was recorded in LA with Davis and other singers. |
| Shilon: | And now you are going to perform this on the Masada? |
| Levy: | We are not sure yet if it will be at the Masada or not, but it is very important for us that it will be "born" in Israel and that the first concert version will be here. |
| Shilon: | And it is actually called "Masada," right ? |
| Levy: | Yes |
| Shilon: | And why did you choose Davis? |
| Levy: | Davis is my idol. I saw him as "Phantom of the Opera" years before I finished this musical. (to Davis: I am speaking behind your back!) |
| Gaines: | I hear you! (pointing to the earphones of the simultaneous translation) |
| Shilon: | He can understand you..he gets the translation. |
| Levy: | His performance was unique, and I said to myself - one day, when I finish writing this - I've GOT TO get him. I was happy to hear that he liked it! He joined us and I hope he stays all along the way. It still has a long long way to go. |
| Shilon: (to Gaines) | It's your first time in Israel. |
| Gaines: | First time, yes. I love it very much! It's very much a big honor to be here with you all tonight and I love this country. The people are so warm and generous . |
| Shilon: | Translates Gaines to Hebrew |
| Levy: | And he likes Humus. (Note : An israeli food) |
| Gaines: | (laughing) |
| Shilon: | Since when ? |
| Gaines: | Always. |
| Shilon: | Oh..you have it in L.A. |
| Gaines: | Oh yes. It's the same. The world is still small. The world is very small. |
| Shilon: | Do you like all the spices? |
| Gaines: | Yes, sure! |
| Shilon: | Translates to Hebrew |
| Levy: | I told him that if he goes on like that, he will look like Pavarotti! |
| Shilon: | So, are we going to now to listen to a piece of this musical? |
| Gaines: (to Levy) | Do you want to talk about the song? What it is.... |
| Levy: | This song opens the 2nd act of the musical. The group of Jews are waking up from a dream, and suddenly realize they had all dreamed the same dream. In the dream it was the first time they saw a light of hope. That later, sorrowfully, they died. But, they wake up and compare the dreams and feel they suddenly have a hope. It is called "Somewhere in the Night". |
| Shilon: | I want to add that Davis will be joined by Rinat Gabay. The
orchestra is "the Young Philharmonic Orchestra" (Shilon mentions
some of the player's names). The chorus is the 'Choral Chorus" of
Tel-Aviv municipality, and all these are conducted by Udi Harpaz. Davis, PLEASE! |
Davis Gaines is going to the stage , where Rinay Gabay is waiting , and :
"Masada -The Musical Saga" :
" Somewhere In The Night" -
| Shilon : | Thank you! Thank you, Davis - it was great!
I must say that the reaction of the audience is oustanding! It is actually the first time you see it performed in front of an audience. |
| Levy : | It's the first time that the whole world sees it in front of an audience. It's the first time this music is being performed. I mean, it's a world premiere! I am so excited that I can hardly talk. |
| Shilon : | So we understand better, this is going to be a musical in the style of Evita? The style that we know from Andrew Lloyd-Webber? |
| Levy : | Similar, but a different formula. |
| Shilon : | I wish you success !!! |