Some of the big names on the local English-language theater scene like to talk about the career they might have had on Broadway or the West End had they not moved to Israel. But not Rosa Howden.
"Personally I think I get more opportunities here," says the director and choreographer of LOGON (Light Opera Group of the Negev), the amateur Beersheva-based company which has been performing full scale musical productions for more than 20 years.
"It's the big fish in a small pond thing," she says. "People meet me and say `Oh you're Rosa, you direct LOGON.' Who'd say that to me in Harrogate?"
Harrogate in Northern England is where Howden and her husband Stephen lived during a five year break from Israel back in the late `70s and early `80s. The town is not far from Leeds, where the couple
LOGON director and choreographer Rosa Howden
first met while appearing in the same [professional] production of the musical `Showboat' at the Yorkshire Playhouse in 1975.
This year - as with the last three LOGON productions - Howden will direct her husband as the male lead of the show. Stephen Howden plays Pseudolus in `A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,' which opens in Beersheva on Tuesday evening. The youngest of the couple's three daughters, Erin, will also appear in the show, which will tour the country during February and March with its cast of 30.
"After [last year's production of] `Singin' in the Rain,' we didn't know where to go," says Howden. "We wanted more of a challenge."
Getting a cast of 32 to tap dance competently last year certainly seemed quite a feat, but this year's challenge - to put on a "riotous comedy" - is bigger, she says. "Directing comedy is one of the hardest things. We've added in a lot and it's been fun. And God knows we need a bit of fun now."
Howden reveals that according to the LOGON version of history, they danced the conga and the hoe-down in Roman times - with a backing from a Three Degrees-style group. Based on the comedies of third century Roman playwright Plautus, with a script by MASH-writer Larry Gelbart and music by Stephen Sondheim, Howden says she has been itching to direct the show since she saw a production in the UK a few years back.
Plenty of worries
With 14 big musical numbers, a full set, full costumes and an 11-piece orchestra, she certainly has plenty to worry about. Each rehearsal, Howden says, is carefully planned. "I know who is going to move and on what note. I have such passion for the stage and I try very hard to bring that over to [the cast]. I know its amateur, but in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, they're paying NIS 90 per ticket. I want to give them the best show I can."
Howden, who spends much of her week teaching children dance and drama in and around Ashkelon where she lives, says she enjoys working with performers "who aren't necessarily dancers because I enjoy getting it out of them." Although her first love, she admits, is classical ballet, something which can be seen in the style of her choreography for the company.
Howden was born in Cyprus, where her Irish Catholic father was stationed with the British army. He had met Howden's mother, who was born to a Sephardi family in the Old City of Jerusalem, while serving in the city as part of the British Mandate - Howden attributes her black curly hair and bright blue eyes down to the ethnic mix.
Although she moved around a lot as a child due to her father's career, Howden's passion for dance was one of the constant elements of her childhood, she says. And it was through performing as a dancer that Howden learned she could sing and act. After training in London at the Arts Educational Dance and Drama College, Howden performed professionally in musical theater before moving to Israel with her mother in 1975.
Her soon-to-be husband Stephen followed her out the following year and the couple set up home in Jerusalem, where they were spotted by LOGON in 1996 and agreed to brave the journey south on a regular basis to star as Curly and Laurie in `Oklahoma!' Howden was also cast as the leading lady in the following two LOGON productions, when she also choreographed the shows, before switching to the role of director four years ago. Although "going into direction seemed a natural progression," Howden admits she still greatly misses performing. "Opening nights always very hard for me," she says. "I want to be the one putting on makeup and going on stage."
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" will run in Be'er Sheva on Feb 11 and March 9, 10; Kfar Saba on Feb 17; in Netanya on Feb 23; in Haifa on Feb 27; in Givatayim on Mar 2 and in Jerusalem on Mar 5.
For ticket details, call (08) 653-2126 or write to gilmourn@netvision.net.i
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