Ali AlKassar

A pioneer of musical comedy, he was born in the Sayeda Zeinab district in 1887. He began his artistic career in 1908 by working in the Zainab Theatre Company, which he founded in 1907. He then worked in the George Abyad Company, where he met Amin Sedky. Together, they formed an acting company in 1916, named after Ali Al-Kassar and Mustafa Amin. On January 6, 1919, he moved his company to his new theatre, the Majestic, on Emad El-Din Street, with his partner and playwright, Amin Sedky. It was the strongest and most successful comedy company, without competition, and it withstood all the challenges that the history of modern Egyptian theatre has known. The two partners remained together until they parted ways at the end of the summer of 1925. Ali Al-Kassar continued to work alone with a troupe bearing his name at the Majestic Theatre until 1939. Throughout that period, he remained steadfast and artistically brilliant, regularly presenting full theatrical seasons to his audience, summer and winter, a new play every three weeks, and eleven concerts, including matinees and soirées, per week. He also traveled with his troupe throughout the governorates of Upper and Lower Egypt and sister Arab countries. Ali Al-Kassar's plays were written by many prominent writers, such as Amin Sedqi, Badi' Khairi, Hamed Al-Sayed, and others. He also presented more than two hundred operettas to the theatre. Ali Al-Kassar's immortal artistic character (Othman Abdel Basset) in his plays represented a…