Halima

With the intention of better acquainting the public with the prolific composer of The Godson, the Greek National Opera is this season reviving Halima, the enchanting operetta by Theophrastos Sakellaridis. In this framework, it is first of all taking steps to restore the musical score, so that the work can be presented in its complete form and with the original orchestration. Halima was retrieved from the music archive of the Greek National Opera. The operetta was presented for the first time at the Montial summer theater by the Kantioti-Ritsiardi company in Autumn 1926 with enormous success.

The story, according to the libretto by S. Potamianos, faintly inspired by "The Thousand and One Nights", unfolds in an eastern palace, where witless but crafty cook Ali-Mousakas is being used as a pawn in the romantic scheming of the beguiling Halima and the imprisoned prince Sakh-Rouman.

Sakellaridis’ music is full of eastern melodies, combined in an imaginative and humorous way with the cosmopolitan rhythms of the period: the foxtrot, the tango and the one-step. Halima is being presented by the GNO for the first time.

The direction of the operetta and editing of the text has been undertaken by Petros Zoulias, who in the last artistic period enjoyed enormous success with Samaras’ "The Cretan Girl".