Originally in
black and white, it was first
colourised in the early 1980s. In 2001, it was performed by the Cairo Opera Ballet Company, which was directed by Abdel Moneim Kamel. In November 2011 and July 2020, the play attracted large number of audiences at the
Cairo Opera House. As a new approach to the historic piece, in May 2014 the GUC Music Academy premiered its new production of El Leila El Kebira. The vision of Ohoude Khadr - back then manager of the GUC Music Academy - was to present a new contemporary approach, which younger generations can easily relate to. The re-arrangement included the musical, as well as the visual part. Composers Khaled El Kammar and Mina Samy rearranged the entire piece for classical orchestra, including an oriental section, electronic instruments, choir and soloists. The technology of projection mapping applied by media designers Ghada Fikri and Yacoub Yassin played a major role in the visual part. The choir wearing white Egyptian traditional gowns (galabeya) was used as a projection space. Special characters were designed for the soloists by Amr Kandil to include the original characters for this version of the show. The premiere was conducted by maestro Shady Abdel Salam. Later the same year in December 2014, the piece was performed again featuring famous Egyptian marimba artist Nesma Abdel Aziz. A special part was composed for her by Kammar. In November 2014,
musical theatre group Fabrica made a
live-action rendition of the play which involved real people as instead of puppets. The play was performed at the 34th Neapolis International Festival Kid's Theatre in Tunisia in December 2019. A ballet version, directed by Abdel Moneim Kamel, was broadcast on
Egyptian Ministry of Culture’s Youtube channel in March 2020, which was part of the “Stay at home.. Culture in your hands” motivation, initiated by Culture Minister Enas Abdel-Dayem as part of the effort to stop the spread of coronavirus (
COVID-19). ==Legacy==