Cruise ship singer plans solo show on land

Editor’s Note: This is the eleventh in a series of stories researched during Don and Nancy Harrison’s 50th Wedding Anniversary cruise from Sydney, Australia, to San Diego.  Previous installments of the series, which runs every Thursday, may be found by tapping the number of the installment:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

By Donald H. Harrison

AT SEA, Aboard MS Maasdam – Yariv Zarif, born in the U.S. to an American mother and Israeli father, is able to speak six languages.  But he says he can sing in 32 languages, and he’s now working on a show that will incorporate all of them.

“It is called ‘Music Without Language’ and it tells the story of how I know 32 languages, and what is unique about that,” Zarif related during an interview aboard the Holland America cruise ship, MS Maasdam, where he was completing a tour as a singer in a variety of stage productions.  “It will bring you an introduction to popular and familiar songs, but perhaps sung in a way that you haven’t heard before, or in a way that they were meant to be sung.”

The six languages he speaks are Hebrew, English, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and American Sign Language, whereas in most of the 26 others in his repertoire he has learned the equivalents of such phrases as “Hi, how are you?”; “I am fine; ” “It’s nice to meet you;” “I love you” and “You look very nice today.”

In off hours when not performing at sea, Zarif has been working on the one-man show, for which he has successfully solicited bookings in small venues in New York, Florida, and California. He told me that he is taking the show on the road in order to perfect it, and that he hopes sometime to return to the Holland America fleet with the show as a guest performer.

Zarif, who served as the manager of the song and dance team that entertained regularly in the Maasdam’s Showroom at Sea, has a strong, melodious, voice and a good stage presence.  When elderly Jewish passengers learn that he is Jewish, he often gains new “aunts” and “uncles,” who are always interested in learning about his career and life.  They make him feel like “the star of the ship,” Zarif confided.

He grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the son of a restauranteur who created the popular Pita Pan Diner, a counter service delicatessen and bakery that offers freshly baked pita bread as well as such Middle Eastern favorites as hummus, baba ghanoush, shawarma, and baklava.

The restaurant name being a pun on “Peter Pan,” perhaps Zarif was drawn early in his life toward a life of performance and storytelling?  Whether the restaurant had that effect or not, it certainly did not imbue him with a desire to go into his father’s business. Although Zanif helped out in the store, he said, “I wasn’t cut out for that business.  He even fired me one time.”

Fort Lauderdale is a well-known cruise port, and as a youth, cruising with his family was a regular vacation.  “I always felt deep down that singing was the most comfortable attribute that I had, and so I decided to audition in New York City, where I moved right after graduation from the University of Central Florida” eight years ago, he said.  Then 22, he was accepted into the company and dispatched to the same ship on which we were sailing, the MS Maasdam.  His first experience was a bit overwhelming.

“It was the first time I had been away from home for that long [nine months], and from my country, and there were a lot of new things I had to get used to,” he recalled.  “It was something that for a 22-year-old was quite traumatic, not what it is for me today.”  So, after his tour, he said, he returned to New York City and was able to be cast in one show that featured the comedian Robin Williams, and after that, in another one starring Harvey Fierstein.  “I was slowly making a name for myself.”

However, after several years, he said, “I was going through a dry spell in New York – that place can really kick you in the butt.”  After his agent called with another offer to perform on Holland America ships, It turned out to be one of the most rewarding, liberating experiences of my whole life.  I fell in love for the first time, and I got to see some of the places on the earth like Antarctica – which how many people on earth have even touched or seen?  I learned so much about myself in that time, and shortly after that I considered doing another contract, and I became a manager within the cast.  That got to be a growing experience that I learned from, and I am still here.  I never expected my cruise ship experience to last so long, but I am very grateful for the experiences that I have had.  You can’t trade them for anything in the world!”

One of the places that he got to travel to on a cruise ship was Israel, where many members of his father’s family live. “The Princendam called both in Ashdod and Haifa, and I got to see my family.  I have flown there numerous times, but this was the first time I got there when I wasn’t jet lagged,” Zarif enthused.  “It was the most amazing experience: I could see my family and be completely wide awake for them.  I also brought them on the ship which was an unbelievable opportunity for them.”

While in port, Israeli immigration authorities decided to question Zarif closely about his nationality; they wanted to see if by any chance he was an Israeli citizen, subject to the IDF draft.  But, being American born and never having made Aliyah, Zarif said he was permitted to happily go his way.

The casts of the production numbers often will be rotated to different ships in the 15-ship Holland America fleet.  They rehearse the shows at the Belinda King Studios in England, where “the stage that we are learning all of these shows on is completely different from what we are performing them on, so when we come on a ship, we have to adapt to the ship and to the set,” Zarif said.  “Of course, it will take time for safety reasons and/ or familiarity before we are okay with that.  What we do is what we call ‘install time,’ which we do in the middle of the night, so we don’t take up passengers’ time in the Showroom.  Sometimes we rehearse at 5 a.m. in the morning.”

In addition to being able to get the feel of the stage, “install time” is “the first time that we are working with our costumes, and different set pieces,” he added.  “Imagine doing all of this after you are 14 hours jet lagged from the other side of the world.  Calling this ‘hell week’ is an understatement.  People get snappy with each other, and we’re eating every opportunity that we can, but that is what you have to do when you come to a stage and a set up that is completely different.  Because we are able to do that, we can take these shows anywhere.  You could put it on a rock, and we would be okay with that.  We would take the time to become familiar with the space, and the same would be true if you put in on a larger class ship …. When it comes down to it, it is singing and dancing, and you have to be able to do it on any stage.  There are different challenges that come up on every cruise.”

For example? I asked.  In one show, which normally had two male singers and two female singers, both females “got isolated for illness hours before the show,” he recalled.  “We thought about canceling, which was an obvious choice, or trying to figure out something we could offer.  So, we (he and the other male singer) got together, mapped out a plan, and made it work.  It went off so incredibly well.  We didn’t try to hide that there were two cast members missing, and the audience was appreciative.  I had to sing a solo meant for one of our female singers, and we cut out another song – I think it was ‘Son of a Preacher Man,’ which would have been weird.  We made it work with the two singers, and of course the dancers.”

What do the singers and dancers do if the ship is in rough waters, and the stage is rocky?

“The first thing would be cutting heels; the girls would wear flats,” Zarif said.  Next would be to cut the lifts for the dancers.  In some ways, he added, rocking stages are harder for the singers than for the dancers.  “A dancer may jump and land in a different place, but the audience doesn’t notice it.  The singers are the ones who look the silliest.  Walking in a straight line can be so difficult on a ship.  There were times when I’d reach for my partner’s hand and not been able to reach her, or times that we have tripped.  You just smile and wave.  Everyone knows, but the show goes on.”

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com