Farrah al-Dibany in the lobby of the Albergo Hotel in Beirut on July 19, 2023. (Credit: AFP archives photo/Anwar Amro)
Forty years after her passing, Dalida is about to come back to life on stage. In the fall of 2026, the singer will be the subject of a major Franco-Egyptian musical, "Dalida: the Song that Never Ends," which will trace the journey of the icon born in Cairo before conquering international stages, never breaking the connection with her roots.
The project was unveiled on July 20 at the French Embassy in Cairo during a press conference attended by the French ambassador to Egypt, Éric Chevalier, Egyptian soprano Farrah al-Dibany, director Khairy Beshara, and screenwriter Walid Khairy. Included in the Mediterranean Season 2026 program, it aims to celebrate one of the most universal figures of the Arab world through a show that blends theater, music and memory.
The creation will mark the official end of the Mediterranean Season. Its premiere is scheduled for Oct. 31 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, followed by a series of performances in Cairo in November.
For Dibany, who will play Dalida, this project is both an artistic challenge and a personal achievement. The soprano shared that portraying the singer has been a childhood dream. She explained she conceived of the show herself before convincing director Khairy Beshara to direct it, then bringing on screenwriter Walid Khairy to write with her.
The director views Dalida as a character of contrasts. Behind the adored star was, in his view, a deeply sensitive woman whose wounds ran deep, yet who showed remarkable strength in front of her audience. He emphasized that this complexity is at the heart of the show.
For his part, Khairy said he chose to explore lesser-known episodes from the artist’s life to move beyond the myth. The project is produced by the Egyptian company 26One1, led by Ahmad Fawzy, who has accompanied the production from the beginning.
Beyond biography, the production aims to tell the artistic journey of a singer who built an international career while never denying her Egyptian identity. Her earliest musical influences, deeply rooted in the culture of her native country, will be intertwined with the songs that made her famous in Europe.
The creation will also evoke Dalida’s constant attachment to Egypt and the Arab world, to which she dedicated several titles throughout her career. The theme of returning to one’s roots and nostalgia, already present in her song Aghani, will run as a connecting thread of the show.
The score will benefit from new arrangements by the Franco-Armenian pianist, composer and arranger André Manoukian, bringing a contemporary perspective to this now-timeless repertoire.
At the announcement, French ambassador to Egypt Éric Chevalier hailed the project as emblematic of cultural cooperation between France and Egypt. According to him, this creation fully exemplifies the spirit of the Mediterranean Season, which highlights artistic exchanges between the two shores of the Mediterranean.
Announced by President Emmanuel Macron in Marseille in June 2023, the Mediterranean Season 2026 is organized by the Institut français with the support of the French ministries for Europe and Foreign Affairs and for Culture. After its launch in Marseille, it will run from May 15 to Oct. 31 throughout France, while also involving several countries around the Mediterranean, particularly Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon, in projects that foster contemporary creation, cultural exchange and youth initiatives.
With Dalida: the Song that Never Ends, a deeply Mediterranean story returns to the stage: that of a child of Cairo who became a global icon, whose voice, nearly forty years after her passing, continues to cross generations.
