Star barometer:
Funny play names, and the Candid Camera doll

(July 26 2001, cairolive.com)

• Two second-tier comic actors have been plucked by the business world to plug products on the pages of the papers in recent weeks. First we saw Montasser B'illah trying out his most sincere smile in an ad for Chevy trucks. Wael Nour, meanwhile, has become the very visible spokesperson for Golden House, a new Alexandria condominium project. Nour gives us his trademark grin as he points to a refrigerator, and says, "And the big plus is that my new apartment comes with all the electrical appliances included..."

• Belly dancer and actress Lucy will be joining Ismail Yassin and Laila Mourad as one of the few stars to do movies featuring her real name in the title. "Lucy fil Maglis" is the name of her new film, the story of a folkloric dancer who ends up running for parliament and winning. The comedy begins filming this summer.

• The summer theater season is in full swing, and as usual, most of the private sector offerings appear to be silly song and dance productions where the title pretty much gives the clearest idea of how deep the play is going to be. For instance, we have the Younis Shalaby Wahid Seif play, "Shawerma", named after the sandwich, and playing at the Abd Theater. Ibrahim Nasr is back with his cross dressing Candid Camera character in "Zakia Zakaria Tatahada Sharon" (Zakia Zakaria versus Sharon), a work sure to be filled with serious political commentary, at the Qasr El-Nile Theater. Samir Ghanem, meanwhile, is also back with Ana, wa Marati wa Monica (My wife, Monica and I), a take on the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, but he's alternating days with another play called "Do Re Mi Fasolya" (Do Re Mi Green Beans). Wonder what that's all about... Ahmed Adam's Houda Karama, Adel Imam's Body Guard, Alaa Walieddin's Hakim Oyoun (Eye Doctor), and Ashraf Abdel-Baki's Helw wa Kaddab (Sweet Liar), meanwhile, are all continuing for yet another summer. And, of course, lest we forget, Fifi Abdu has returned to the stage with "It-dala'i ya Dosa" (Turn on the Charm). Charming, I'm sure...

• Zakia Zakariya also shows up this summer as a walking, talking doll, according to an ad in the papers. The doll bears the likeness of the character played by comedian Ibrahim Nasr on Egyptian TV's popular Ramadan staple, Al-Kamera Al-Khafiya (Candid Camera), and repeats that show's hilarious mantra, "Ya Nagati, Onfokh al-balaleen ashan eid el-meelad" (Nagati... Blow up the balloons for the birthday party)... Certainly a must have...

• The Egyptian cultural center in France conducted a survey recently in an attempt to discover the most loved actor-singers in the history of Egyptian entertainment. From the older generation, the survey results found Shadia and Mohamed Fawzy to be the most loved, beating out their compatriots Abdel-Halim Hafez and Mohamed Abdel-Wahab (who may be better singers but not necessarily better at both singing and acting). As for the younger bunch, the lovable Mohamed Fouad took the top honors, beating out Mustafa Qamar.

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