[NEohioPAL] Theater review of "The Band's Visit" on Broadway

[Bob Abelman]

Bittersweet ‘The Band’s Visit’ fights the trend toward saccharine entertainment



Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics



The final moment in “The Band’s Visit,” which opened this Thursday on Broadway, depicts Egypt’s eight-piece Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra. It has finally reached its destination of Petah Tikva in Israel, where it was invited to play a goodwill concert at the new Arab cultural center.  



Patriotic and proud bandleader Colonel Tewfiq Zakaria (Tony Shalhoub) is about to turn and face his musicians, dramatically raise his baton just above his head, suspend it there for an instant, and then initiate the long-awaited first note when the stage immediately goes to black and the audience’s thunderous and prolonged applause begins.



Prior to this moment is a succession of other immaculately conceived, meticulously orchestrated and tenderly rendered moments written by Itamar Moses – many similarly silent and saturated with emotion, others gently underscored with Middle Eastern-accented music written by David Yazbek and performed by on-stage actor/musician band members and off-stage keyboards. 



Collectively, these moments tell the story of the band, having mistaken Bet Hatikva for Petah Tikva at the bus terminal, being stranded for the night in an isolated, uneventful desert town in an unwelcoming land.  The band comes upon a sunbaked café, where its members are hesitantly invited into the homes of the café’s three occupants (Katrina Lenk, John Cariani, Etai Benson).  The play then tells a small but universal tale about the need for one person – regardless of culture, race or religion – to make a genuine connection with another.  And it does so with delicate artistry.



This is an inventive, wonderfully understated show that flies in the face of the family-oriented Disney behemoths and commercial box office extravaganzas that surround it.  “The Band’s Visit” whispers while so many other productions shout and it delivers a bittersweet story instead of saccharine entertainment.  



For more of this article, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/.
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