Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2009, page 61

Music & Arts

“OMAN...O Man!” Performance Delights Audience

AWARD-WINNING dancer, author, director, composer and choreographer Debbie Allen traveled to the Sultanate of Oman to research her production “OMAN...O Man!” Commissioned by the Kennedy Center, it premiered at the “Arabesque” festival from March 12 to 15. To music composed by Cuban-born Grammy Award-winner Arturo Sandoval, young performers from various cities in Oman joined with dancers from Los Angeles and the DC metro area to truly live the theme of Allen’s play and learn about two different cultures that are both O.K.

Salim, the 11-year-old son of an Omani diplomat, and Joseph, a 12-year-old American, are roommates at a military academy who start out mystified by each other. One scene contrasted dignified worship in a mosque with an exuberant Baptist service. A crowd-pleaser was a scene in which the two boys’ sisters, Salme and Aisha, sing about their differences in dress and what type of women they want to be. The boys proudly compare their leaders: Sultan Qaboos, who has brought modernity to the sultanate, and President Barack Obama, who is a role model for Joseph. (The first lady and her mother were in the audience to hear the crowd’s thunderous applause for the first African-American president.) By the end of the play the boys are fast friends, and the audience joins Joseph in wanting to visit Salim’s magical homeland.

—Delinda C. Hanley