Shalom – the Hebrew word for peace — is central to Jewish liturgy and to Israeli music. You could fill books with the Hebrew songs that yearn for peace. In the new musical play “November 4,” a compelling account of the societal and political motives that led to 1995 assassination of Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a peace song opens and closes the show. Like Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikva,” it offers hope in the face of despair.
And how fitting that Rabin, a warrior soldier groomed in the elite Palmach unit during the nation’s War of Independence, became a proponent of peace. In fact, among his last public words, spoken before a rally of thousands in Kikar Malchay Yisrael – Kings of Israel Square – were the lyrics of “Shir LaShalom, or “A Song of Peace,” penned by Yaakov Rotblit following the Six-Day War.
Three decades since that fatal moment in Israel’s history, in the wake of Oct. 7, the opportunity for peaceful coexistence with its neighbors is tattered, if not shattered. “November 4” revisits the fraught era in the wake of the Oslo Accords, which aimed to forge a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, in the hopes for better lives on both sides.
Collapsing these complex events into a chamber musical sounds like folly. Yet, in this Voices Festival Production, under the leadership of former Theater J and Mosaic Theater artistic director Ari Roth, the outcome is absorbing and thought-provoking. You won’t leave humming the overture, but unquestionably the political, social and moral issues the work examines provide material for thoughtful and provocative conversation.
When Roth created his Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival 25 years ago, during his tenure at Theater J, he aimed to offer a safe and stimulating space for debate on the Israeli-Arab conflict. Thankfully he continues wrestling with these issues in theatrical programming that provides a space for thoughtful post-performance commentary.
Danny Paller, who penned both music and lyrics, and American journalist Myra Noveck, a former Jerusalem correspondent for The New York Times, who contributed the book, have telescoped a layered and complex moment in history into a worthy stage drama.
Paller’s musical compositions give more than a nod to the stylistic complexity of Stephen Sondheim in a score that leans into pastiche — a little song and dance number, a bit of bluesy influence, a power ballad. Novek’s script focuses on the stories of Rabin; his wife, Leah; granddaughter Noa; various political and journalist friends and foes, and Yigal Amir, a nationalist yeshiva and law student, as well as Amir’s parents, brother and girlfriend.
Momentum builds as Rabin maneuvers both personal and political dealings leading up to a planned peace rally. Simultaneously, we see Amir’s evolution from a fundamentalist idealist into a full-blown terrorist, willing and ready to pull the trigger. In brief interstitial moments, flash forward commentary from both the Rabin and Amir camps corroborate that what is past is prologue when dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The production, directed by Alexandra Aron, feels too thin for the grandeur and hubris of this torn-from-history moment. Just five actors fill more than a dozen roles while the pit band is comprised of only piano, cello and clarinet. As Rabin, Mitch Greenberg brings gravitas and humanity to his role, and in wire-framed glasses sometimes resembles a more likeable Larry David. Nicole Halmos takes on Leah Rabin and the prime minister’s adviser Shoshi among other roles and uses her notable soprano to powerful effect.
Noah Mutterperl as antagonist Yigal Amir grows into his role, while Emma Wallach provides substance to the ingenue parts, including the Rabins’ granddaughter and the assassin’s female friend. Filling in a passel of supporting roles from journalists to political friends and the assassin’s brother, Chris Daileader, along with his fellow cast mates, does a remarkable job in split-second costume and character changes. Would better and more voices and richer instrumentation have made the music more appealing? Yes, but the acting mostly made up for it.
Staged in a small black box theater within the Universal Nationalist Memorial Church on 16th Street, not far from the Edlavitch DCJCC, the production is modest yet convincing.
Posters of the moment proclaiming “Stop the Genocide,” “Ceasefire Now” and, “Am Yisrael Chai!,” “The Nation of Israel Lives” decorate desert-sand-colored partitions on the stage. At the center of Lauren Helpern’s set, a bridge that represents one crossing the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv serves as a metaphor of the divide that has split the Israel polity into camps of “Greater Israel” and “Peace Now!”
On Nov. 4, 1995, singer Miri Aloni, joined by Yitzhak Rabin, sang “Shir LaShalom” as that fateful Tel Aviv peace rally concluded. Minutes later, Yigal Amir fired. A blood-soaked copy of the lyrics was found in Rabin’s breast pocket. In Danny Paller’s “Peace Song” for the musical, which draws a musical phrase from “Shir LaShalom,” his refrain plaintively echoes so many Hebrew songs: “We have waited long enough; we are strong enough for peace.”
The ending of “November 4” brings no surprises. But in 105 minutes, the musical reflects on how much Israel and the world have lost in the wake of Rabin’s assassination. In this post-Oct. 7 era, have the warriors like Rabin, who believed peace was possible, vanished?
“November 4,” through Dec. 7, Universalist National Memorial Church, 1810 16th St. NW, Washington, D.C. Tickets $25-$68. Visit voicesfestivalproductions.com/nov4-themusical.
Lisa Traiger is Washington Jewish Week’s award-winning arts correspondent.