ARAMAIC WATCH: More on the Ben Hur production coming live to London. The Independent sounds a bit skeptical:

Ben Hur: The blockbuster no one will understand

Stage show of Ben-Hur to use ancient languages of Latin and Aramaic

By Arifa Akbar, Arts Correspondent

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

On-stage chariot races, herds of horses, camels, vultures, eagles, 400 performers and a supporting cast which includes Jesus Christ, Tiberius Julius Caesar and Pontius Pilate ... What else to do but set Ben-Hur the stage show in Latin and Aramaic? The £5m production will show at the 20,000-seat O2 arena in London from 15-19 September.

Only one song in the score – written by Stewart Copeland, formerly a rock drummer for the Police – will be composed in English.

Actors will learn their lines in the ancient language of the Romans and the Jews. A narrator will explain the action in the native language of whichever of the seven countries the play is touring, among them France and Germany, as well as England.

[...]

As with The Passion of the Christ, there really should be Greek in there as well.