By conventional expectations of what constitutes a smash musical, The Band’s Visit shouldn’t be a success, and yet it is. It has, of course, won numerous Tony awards in the 2017-18 Season, and after seeing the production at the Kennedy Center, we can understand why it is well loved.
The musical begins with the same words that opened the 2007 Isreali movie that inspired it: “Not so long ago, a group of musicians came to Israel from Egypt. You probably didn’t hear about it. It wasn’t very important.” The words are projected on a lightly painted scrim through which, if you look closely, you can see the set for the show as if in a misty haze. What follows is roughly 100 minutes of astonishingly understated magic in a play in which nothing important really happens, and yet somehow we end up caring for each and every person we meet in the production. The plot is simple enough: a slice-of-life play where a band takes the wrong bus and ends up in a small town where they are forced to spend the night and interact with the locals. That’s it, but it is so much more.
The musical captures the humor and emotion of the original movie, but by adding songs there is greater depth of emotion. Language and cultural barriers are overcome as these interlopers intrude on the mundane lives of normal everyday people who all yearn for something more. We were reminded of random road trips we would take in college where one could crash on a friend of a friend’s couch and just accept whatever hospitality one could find, even if it comes with screaming babies and fighting couples. Hospitality that we repay as we are able, with whatever talent and stories we have.
When the scrim rises, the unit set is primarily in shades of concrete gray. We give an immediate shout out to set designer Scott Pask for creating a simple unit set that isn’t static and extremely functional. It has lots of rotations which we normally find tiresome, but in this particular case they are used so well and with such great purpose that we were simply amazed. We were effectively transported to 1996 in Israel with the effective use of simple set dressings and a strong costuming plot by Sarah Laux.
Equally strong direction by David Cromer and nuanced performances by each of the cast members were helped along by some really fascinating songs by David Yazbeck, and are what make this deceptively simple show truly wondrous. Janet Dacal plays Dina, a lonely café owner who decides that she and her friends will adopt this lost band and spends the evening getting to know (and possibly love) the Band’s leader Tewfig (played with Sasson Gabay). She oozes sensuality and strength and boredom simultaneously. Her voice is extremely distinctive but when she sings there is a raw emotional quality that makes one want to hang on every note. Sasson Gabay in the role of Tewfig, the leader of the Band, gives a humorous, stoic performance. As the evening progresses, he shares with Dina private moments of his life that gives him a vulnerability that endears her (and the audience) to him. Gabay is reprising the role he created in the 2007 movie and played for part of the Broadway run.
Clay Singer plays a very laid-back young new father Itzik with an ingratiating, natural ease, yet when he sings a lullaby to his child, it is filled with nuance: sad and sweet and beautiful. His wife, played by Kendal Hartse, is fed up with her life as mother and wife and daughter and just wants to go somewhere and be someone. Her longing and frustration is genuine and palpable. Joining them for the evening is Yone Avi Battat playing Camal, a musician who has never finished his great composition but finds inspiration in this small family and in turn inspires them.
Probably the most charismatic of the band members is Haled, played by Ali Louis Bourzgui, who seems to flirt his way through life. He spends the evening with Papi (played by Coby Getzug) who has problems communicating with women, which he relates in one of my favorite songs of the night “Papi Hears the Ocean.” Bourzghui’s Haled guides him through a very funny seduction scene.
However, one of the best performances of the night is Joshua Grosso playing a character we only know as “Telephone Guy.” We follow his story through the evening as he waits patiently at a payphone for his girlfriend to call him. Eventually he starts the strongest song of the entire evening “Answer Me” which becomes a full cast anthem.
Though richly textured dramatically, the mood of the piece is largely introspective until a lively closing jam session that unites the actor/musicians with their non-acting musical colleagues. While The Band’s Visit never preaches its message of human fellowship beyond hostile borders, this final moment is a joyous expression of unity. Tellingly, there is no mention of any Arab-Israeli conflict whatsoever. No need. This is a remarkable and boundlessly compassionate and humanistic piece of theater. It lets us know that that is as absurd an enmity as all the other things about which we fight. This is a fine production of an unexpected show that I believe everyone should see if you can!
Running Time: Approximately 100 minutes with no intermission.
The Band’s Visit plays through July 17, 2022 in the Eisenhower Theatre at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC. For tickets call the box office at (202) 467-4600 or purchase them online.
