The Band’s Visit

Musical (2017)
Huntington Theatre Company
In co-production with Speakeasy Stage Company
Huntington Avenue Theater
Symphony Hall area, Boston
November 10 – December 17, 2023

Music and lyrics by David Yazbek
Book by Itamar Moses
Directed by Paul Daigneault
Based on the screenplay by Eran Kolirin
Choreography by Daniel Pelzig
Music Direction by José Delgado

Scenic Design: Wilson Chin, Jimmy Stubbs; Costume Design: Miranda Kau Giurleo; Lighting Design: Aja M. Jackson; Sound Design: Joshua Millican; Voice Coaching: Lee Nishri-Howitt; Dramaturg: Vahdat Yeganeh; Stage Management: Emily F. McMullen

Musicians: Daniel Rodriguez (Associate Conductor), Herdi Xha (Percussion), Mike Rivard (Acoustic and Electric Bass), Mac Ritchey (Oud, Acoustic and Electric Guitar, on stage), Joe LaRocca (Reeds, on stage), Wick Simmons (Cello, on stage), Fabio Pirozzolo (Percussion, on stage)

With Jared Troilo (Itzik), Jesse Garlick (Papi), Fady Demian (Zelger), Robert Saoud (Avrum), Josephine Moshiri Elwood (Julia), Noah Kieserman (Telephone Guy), Brian Thomas Abraham (Tewfiq), Marianna Bassham (Iris), Jennifer Apple (Dina), Kareem Elsamadicy (Haled), Andrew Mayer (Camal), James Rana (Simon), Emily Qualmann (Anna, Dance Captain), Zaven Ovian (Sammy)

Destined for the well-known Israeli site and resort Petach Tikva, the brass band from Egypt, due to a miscommunication due to the similar sounds of the intended destination and the mistaken one, lands in a forlorn Israeli desert town in the Negev Desert named Bet Hatikvah. Welcoming them is Dina (Jennifer Apple), the middle-aged and beautiful proprietress of a restaurant, who, during the band’s short visit, strikes up a touching connection with Tewfiq (Brian Thomas Abraham), the band’s middle aged conductor. Around the sides, other smaller plots abound, including that of Itzik (Jared Troilo) and Iris (Marianna Bassham), and of the so-called Telephone Guy (Noah Kieserman) who waits endlessly for a girlfriend to call him back.

A note made by a member of the cast at the outset that you probably didn’t hear about it… it wasn’t very important sets the stage for this wonderfully exuberant and musically satisfying adaptation of the equally wonderful 2007 film about – well- almost nothing. An Egyptian band visits Israel, gets to the wrong place, and people connect – that’s pretty much it. But it is also what makes the film, and this wonderful musical based on it, so beautifully captivating. Indeed, isn’t it exactly those small connections, those very human connections, which spell the possibilities of peace and mutual understanding between societies and cultures?

One of the handsome young band members opens a conversation with almost anyone he meets, especially with attractive women with the question Do you like Chet Baker? It’s a sweet nod to the international language of music and to jazz as the form that helps to merge its multiple cultural influences so compellingly.

As the production unfolds, one realizes that a lot of the music – which is excellent and excellently performed – will take place onstage. One discovers a single clarinetist, then a cello and an oud, a violin, which come to vivid life in catchy and appealing numbers like Haj-Butrus.

As the star of the show in the role of Dina, Jennifer Apple is transfixing. She has looks remarkably similar to those of the late great Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz who starred as Dina in the film, and a similar kind of magnetism which draws the show along persuasively. And boy can she sing! What a sultry wonderful voice that comes to life in numbers like Omar Sharif.

As Tewfiq, the dignified but somewhat dowdy head of the police band, Brian Thomas Abraham makes a wonderful foil for Jennifer Apple’s Dina. Contrasted with the younger, more obviously attractive members of his band, Abraham’s Tewfiq has a reflectiveness and depth that draws Dina in almost unwittingly. This emotion comes forth eloquently in Something Different, a duo ballad by Tewfiq and Dina about the attraction to what is foreign and unfamiliar.
Their passion, though restrained, is potent and significant. As C.P. Snow once noted, intense passion is often more persuasively communicated through restrained rather than explicit narrative. This story about Dina and Tewfiq exhibits that dramatically well.

The background story of Itzik’s and Iris’ challenged marriage, though performed by the two excellent actors Jared Troilo and Marianna Bassham, has a melodramatic quality which seems a bit out of place given the small size of the main story and the restraint that story exhibits throughout. It’s not clear what role it plays in the show overall, except, with the periodic touching base on The Telephone Guy’s disappointments, fills out the landscape of fraught love for the simmering attraction framed in Dina’s and Tewfiq’s encounter.

In addition to the subtle and compelling portrait of that encounter as drawn by Apple and Abraham, the show’s music and the wonderful performances given of it here, are what make this production a satisfying experience. David Yazbek’s music manages to combine jazzy showbiz rhythms with a good amount of striking and invigorating Middle Eastern modalities. As a whole, the songs are down to earth and fun, but the supplements and inclusions of the Middle Eastern riffs by the backstage and onstage bands are what set the score apart. José Delgado’s music direction and the offerings of the band – offstage and onstage – are distinctively good. Choreography by Daniel Pelzig is lively and wonderful. And, overall, Paul Daigneault’s direction offers a great stimulus and drive to the performance overall.

The accents of the actors are believable and right on – kudos to dialect coach Lee Nishri-Howitt.   Settings by Wilson Chin and Jimmy Stubbs, though simple, do the job well, and Aja M. Jackson has offered expert lighting design.  Needless to say, sound design by Joshua Millican offers fine complementary support to the excellent music.  Costumes by Miranda Kau Giuleo and hair, wig and makeup by Rachel Padula-Shufelt help to create a believable and visually stimulating presentation.

Indeed, making a successful musical out of a film, and a small independent film at that, is no mean feat, and rendering a production that is as lively and satisfying as this one is no mean feat either.  Though relatively compact at 90 minutes without intermission, the show is packed with energy and dramatic and musical satisfactions, and a longer show might well have reached out beyond the modest scope of the narrative.

Overall: Go see it – it’s lively and touching and has some great music and singing.

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)