Ester the musical

The Apostolic Movement staged Four performances of “The Musical Esther” – at 6 and 9 p.m. on the 4th and 5th October, at the Politeama Theatre in Catanzaro.
This work is entirely conceived, composed and directed by Concetta Marraffa, President of the above mentioned ecclesial aggregation, founded in Catanzaro on November 3, 1979, through the inspirer Maria Marino, a simple, humble woman, full of love and suffering but filled with joy of the Lord, who is spending all of herself to proclaim and remind the Gospel.
The musical Esther is a work conceived as an instrument of the new evangelization, with a double immediate goal: creating a situation of formation and aggregation of young people; turning to the wider public a lively and heartfelt proposal of faith in the attractive forms of the performing arts.
As a musical representation, the work includes the theatrical forms of dance, singing and acting. The choreography is structured around 20 original tracks, that evoke Middle East ancient sounds, in harmony with other contemporary musical genres.
The representation brings to the stage Queen Esther and her striking event. She is a young Jewish woman in a foreign land that comes to the point of becoming a queen, taking the place of Vashti, the disobedient wife of King Ahasuerus. Her uncle Mordecai foils a plot of two eunuchs against the king, and for this reason he is elevated to the rank of court official, thus, arousing the jealousy of the wicked Haman, a high royal dignitary. This falsely accuses Mordecai and the Jews of disloyalty to the royal laws and arranges to decree their total destruction. In this context, at the risk of her own life, Esther, after having invoked the Almighty Lord to give her a proper word and to open the heart of the king to listen to her; she presents herself to the sovereign, and thwarts the threat of death for her people.
This biblical subject was chosen in consideration of the present precious opportunities of topics it offers to be put into effect: the status of women in different cultural epochs, the value of freedom of conscience and religion, the responsibility for the common good on the part of public authorities, the precious good of family relationships and the Providence that guides history. Above all, a strong testimony on the virtue of faith and the power of prayer are made to emerge.
The work is entirely new. It is presented as the culmination of a creative and organizational commitment, bestowed by the cast of the youth of the Apostolic Movement, that has already worked for the new evangelization in other musicals in previous years.