The Band’s Visit

The Band’s Visit

Review of The Band’s Visit, a musical play, book by Itamar Moses, Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek

At the Huntington Theater through December 17, 2023

By Andy Hoffman

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of musicals. More often than not, the music emphasizes hummability over quality and the songs do little to advance the plot or reveal character. The exceptions – Hamilton and most anything Stephen Sondheim wrote – make the point. I can add The Band’s Visit to that list. The music drives the play forward, paints the characters’ emotional landscapes, and allows for conflict and resolution naturally. At no point did I feel as though characters broke into song out of context or even out of mood. Unlike so many traditional musicals, the music never takes the audience away from the story.

The Bands Visit, which is based on the 2007 film (itself based on a true story), begins with the Alexandra Ceremonial Police Orchestra in a bus station on their way to perform at a cultural exchange between Egypt and Israel, following the declaration of peace between the countries. The wind up in the wrong town, one with a very similar sounding name, but which not only lacks a cultural exchange program, but any culture at all. The Colonel, who leads the band, asks fiery Dina, the proprietor of one of few cafes in town, for directions to the venue. The Israelis sing ‘Waiting’, about the profound boredom of living in their town, making clear that the band has made a grievous geographical mistake. The buses have stopped running and the band will have to wait to get to their destination. Dina offers to find food and overnight accommodations for the duration of the visit.

The Colonel, Tewfiq, who Dina addresses throughout as General, agrees – he really has no choice. He wants to make certain that he and his musicians cause as little trouble as possible during their misadventure. Dina, played by Jennifer Apple, wants Tewfiq to get some pleasure out of his mistake. She and he make progress towards friendship, progress derailed when Dina runs into her married lover. Tewfiq withdraws among the fireworks. Meanwhile, other band members stumble into the life of the town. Two musicians stay with an embattled married couple at odds over the infant they’ve brought into the world. The womanizing trumpet player goes on a double date, the fifth wheel who coaches an awkward local on how to approach a woman. The band becomes part of the town for a single night.

At its core, The Band’s Visit addresses how music builds bridges. Beyond that though, we see that the gulf between Egyptians and Israelis seems minimal compared with the one between men and women. While the Hebrew and Arabic can elide into a mutually understood English, the chasm between the sexes remains as uncrossable as the desert surrounding the town. Throughout the musical, we see greater understanding between natives and foreigners than we do between the men and women of this forlorn fictional town in the Negev Desert.

The music, a blend of Middle Eastern and Western instruments, seamlessly flows into the tale of the misplaced Egyptians. Combining folk, rock, and classical sounds elevates the theme of the musical, creating sonic partnerships for the hosts and their unexpected visitors. The musicians, backed by an invisible band and a hidden conductor, play song after song, with little breaks and no introduction. Most of the singers handle their songs with ease, even though most contain surprising chord shifts and unfamiliar scales. I want to call out Jennifer Apple’s spellbinding performance. Not only does she possess a show-stopping voice, but her manifestation of Dina’s passionate response to the world reminded me of many Israelis I have known. The Band’s Visit is a spectacular evening out.