"Haleem... The Age of Romance" to be screened next March
Author and producer Madhat Al-Adl announced his new theatrical project, “Haleem... The Age of Romance,” which is based on the autobiography of the late nightingale Abdel Halim Hafez, following the success of the play “Umm Kulthum,” which was staged over the past years. Al-Adl has scheduled the premiere of the new play about the nightingale for March next year.
Al-Adl completed the script in recent months, and preparations are underway for a production that will utilize high-end technologies and incur very high costs, surpassing those of “Umm Kulthum.” A large number of new and young talents will be selected to perform in the new production. One of the performances is scheduled to take place at the Performing Arts City in the New Capital.
Al-Adl revealed details about the production at a press conference, stating, “The stage show will focus on the romantic experience in Abdel Halim Hafez’s life, because the audience is in dire need of returning to that era. We will focus on the age of romance, silk handkerchiefs, and handwritten replies. All of us, in the midst of the congestion we are living through, long to return to the good old days.”
Al-Adl noted that the nightingale was closely connected to the people, personally replying to audience letters and interacting with orphans, among other noble gestures. He emphasized that the production presents the artist through an artistic vision, rather than as a documentary film about him, and will not delve into private life details or his romantic relationships. “This man, who lived creating among us, would step onto the stage as if dead, yet his ambitions and dreams were greater than his body and his illness,” he said.
He added that the nightingale was a visionary artist who constantly rebelled against his own comfort zone; whenever he succeeded in a particular musical style, he reinvented and updated himself. He was always seeking new spaces and new experiences for success, and he consistently developed those who worked with him.
Al-Adl mentioned that the production team selected a large number of Abdel Halim Hafez’s most famous songs, focusing on presenting them within a dramatic context that serves the character’s journey.
