Night owls, insomniacs, and thrill-seekers will have a field day – or night – when the annual White Night bash takes place in Tel Aviv.
By BARRY DAVIS311_white night(photo credit: Joanna Paraszczuk)
Night owls, insomniacs, insatiable culture consumers and thrill-seekers will have a field day – or night – on Thursday, when the annual White Night bash takes place in Tel Aviv.The now-annual event started in 2003, after UNESCO recognized Tel Aviv as a world heritage site by virtue of the city’s unique collection of Bauhaus and other notable architecture.On Thursday, Tel Aviv’s claim of being a “non-stop city” will put its money, culture, arts, food and fun where its promotional campaign is with hundreds of events of all kinds taking place throughout the night.For a start, if you just want to stroll along the city’s thoroughfare and take in some of the sights, some of the impressive Bauhaus buildings along Sderot Rothschild and Rehov Bialik will be illuminated for your viewing pleasure. Musical bands and outdoor theater acts will perform on Rothschild from 9 p.m.Further south, the rejuvenated train station compound will offer an appealing mix of staged and hands-on musical entertainment and comedy, with the Tel Avivites and Tel Aviv Youngsters high-energy musical outfit performing there at 9 p.m., followed by the Gesher Theater’s I Love You Forever comedy at 10:30 p.m. and Moshe Lahav and his perennial Big Tish sing-along act kicking off at midnight.If you’re still going strong after that, you might want to head for Tel Aviv’s northernmost strip of sand, the Tzuk Beach, where old partners in music Mati Caspi and Shlomo Gronich will perform their long-running Me’ahorei Hatzlilim show, followed by their old pal flutist-keyboardist-vocalist Shem Tov Levy’s Ben Adama program, based on his most recent CD. The Tzuk Beach agenda starts at 1:30 a.m. and will end at sunrise.Fans of Greek music should get themselves over to Hapisga Gardens in Jaffa, where Cypriot-born Israeli musicians Trifonas will perform with a stellar lineup of guests at 9 p.m. Half an hour later, Ahinoam Nini and Miri Awad (and sidemen) will team up on the waterfront at the Jaffa Port at 9:30 p.m.Over at the Opera House on Sderot Shaul Hamelech, there will be an outdoor program of some of the genre’s perennial favorites, including arias, duets and ensemble material from such popular works as The Magic Flute, La Boheme and La Traviata as well as numbers from more contemporary musicals, including West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera and My Fair Lady.Over at Tel Aviv University in Ramat Aviv, the Shablulim band will take the nostalgia route with a show of Arik Einstein covers, and the campus sports facilities will be open to the public, free of charge, between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.The university’s sports hall will also hold folk dancing sessions from 8 p.m. till 3 a.m.
Just behind the campus, the Zoological and Botanical Gardens are offering the public a chance to get a closer look at some of the exotic flora and fauna there, with tours leaving every quarter of an hour between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.Back nearer downtown Tel Aviv, Beit Ariella has a rich program of talks, storytelling, discussions and readings lined up, starting with Galia Dor’s 6 p.m. session about Japanese culture.There will also be some improvisational entertainment on offer, with the 8 p.m. show of the Marot (Mirrors) playback theater group.Night owls can also catch an 11 p.m. reading of Etgar Keret’s Missing Kissinger, with musical entertainment provided by pianist-guitarist Uri Shamir This will be followed at 1 a.m. by a program of French chansons courtesy of vocalist Yael Malul Gonzales and accordion player Uzi Rosenblat.More information: www.tel-aviv.gov.il
