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Friday March 9, 2007

Start spreading the news — ‘Israel’s Sinatra’ coming here

by joe eskenazi
staff writer

No, he doesn’t hail from Hoboken, N.J., didn’t give Marilyn Monroe a miniature poodle named Mafia, and he doesn’t even have blue eyes.

He’s a Jerusalemite — with brown eyes, thank you — and one of Israel’s most beloved singers and actors. He’s Yehoram Gaon, and he’s coming to Foster City for a March 17 concert.

The show is a family affair for Doron Shapira, who’s putting on the concert at Foster City’s Peninsula Sinai Congregation, where he’s the cantor and an educator. The performance is an annual fest put on the memory of his late father, Chen Shapira — the last man, incidentally, to convince Gaon to perform in the Bay Area, more than 30 years ago.

“When you say ‘Sinatra,’ that has the imprimatur that this is the singer, the one who has more influence than everyone else. In a sense, Yehoram Gaon has done that,” said Shapira.

Like “The Chairman of the Board,” Gaon, 67, is neither a writer nor composer but a performer of standards, and though young Israelis are not huge devotees of his, they most certainly know and grew up with his songs playing on mom and dad’s radio.

He is perhaps best-known for his acting turn in the 1974 Israeli film “Kazablan,” playing the eponymous hero. It’s a remake of “West Side Story” (which was itself an adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet”), and a musical that utilized Gaon’s vocal talent (he played the Sephardic lead who fell in love with an Ashkenazic girl).

He starred and directed in the semi-autobiographical “I Am a Jerusalemite” (1971) and even played Yoni Netanyahu in the Entebbe Raid thriller “Mivtsa Yonatan” (1977). In 2004, Gaon received the Israel Prize.

Gaon sings in both Hebrew and Ladino (his film “From Toledo to Jerusalem” was entirely in Ladino, in fact), but is a fluent English speaker and, according to Shapira, likes to get his audience involved in the show.

The 8 p.m. show at 499 Boothbay Ave., Foster City, is sponsored by Peninsula Sinai Congregation, the Consulate General of Israel, JIMENA and the Israel Center of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.

A few seats remain and ticket sales end after Wednesday, March 14 — beware the Ides of March, indeed. For more information, visit Peninsula Sinai Congregation’s Web site at www.peninsulasinai.org or contact Shapira at cantor@peninsulasinai.org.

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