Cairo—The New Administrative Capital’s City of Arts and Culture played host to a high-profile press conference where celebrated Egyptian screenwriter, poet, and producer Dr. Medhat El Adl, alongside New Administrative Capital Chairman and Managing Director Engineer Khaled Abbas and director Ahmed Fouad, unveiled official details for the upcoming mega-musical production Halim: The Age of Romance.
The ambitious stage production, co-produced by El Adl Group and the New Administrative Capital, aims to transport audiences back to an era of unbridled emotion. Speaking to the press, El Adl emphasized that crafting a theatrical narrative around the legendary Egyptian crooner Abdel Halim Hafez—affectionately known as the Dark Nightingale—presents a profound creative challenge. Because the singer’s timeless catalog remains deeply embedded in the collective consciousness across multiple generations, the production deliberately bypasses standard biographical tropes to focus on what El Adl defines as the ultimate age of romance: a bygone era defined by silk handkerchiefs, handwritten letters, and delivered roses.
Addressing past controversies surrounding previous screen adaptations, El Adl stressed that the search for the actor to portray the iconic musician will completely avoid superficial physical mimicry. Instead, the casting process prioritizes an artist capable of channeling the Nightingale’s inimitable stage presence, charisma, and the sheer artistic drive that consistently pushed him to transcend his physical ailments. The script dives deep into a dramatic two-decade span of the legend’s life, capturing both his artistic triumphs and his relentless private battles.
Director Ahmed Fouad, an alumnus of Italian musical theater institutions, returns to collaborate with El Adl following their successful theatrical partnership on Umm Kulthum. The upcoming staging promises high-end theatrical choreography, state-of-the-art projection technology, and lavish musical sequences designed to honor the legacy of classic Arab song.
Engineer Khaled Abbas welcomed the collaboration during the conference, underscoring that the partnership with El Adl Studios positions the City of Arts and Culture as a premier regional hub for world-class artistic and cultural programming.
Halim: The Age of Romance is slated to premiere its grand theatrical run in March 2027, aligning with the fiftieth anniversary of Abdel Halim Hafez’s passing, with subsequent international tour plans currently underway to bring the production to regional and global stages.
Published by: August 24, 2026.
