Writers Theatre’s “The Band’s Visit,” with Rom Barkhordar/Photo: Michael Brosilow
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If we can have intentionally small-scale straight theater, so, too, should we have intentionally small-scale musicals. Some shows are best done in intimate spaces. Seeing “The Band’s Visit” in a massive theater with hundreds if not thousands of other people, even at a distance, was a moving experience. Yet that doesn’t hold a candle to seeing it at Writers Theatre. Shows like “Band’s Visit” and “Once” are just too fragile to be tossed onto any old stage.
They’re like music boxes. Meant to be appreciated, delicately, with great care.
After all, the show by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses is all about human connection. In theater, particularly Chicago theater, that connection is at its peak when you’re mere feet from the actors at all times. When you can almost feel the wistful sighs from Michael Joseph Mitchell (Avrum), you know a show has found its home.
An ironic sentiment as the premise of “Band’s Visit” comprises a band trio and their conductor visiting Egypt from Israel—but end up in Bet Hatikva instead of Petah Tikvah. What follows is a whimsical, heartstring-plucking day when the band members await tomorrow’s bus to take them to their concert location. Based on the charming 2007 film by Eran Kolirin, this musical reminds us that we can bypass cultural and linguistic differences when we try.
Writers Theatre’s “The Band’s Visit,” with Adam Qutaishat, Dana Saleh Omar, Dave Honigman/Photo: Michael Brosilow
Don’t take the music-box metaphor too literally. Director Zi Alikhan gives us an evenhanded production that allows audiences to see each of these characters as the vibrant people they are. Bet Hatikva is a small town—no one can hide in a corner and not be noticed.
Tewfiq (Rom Barkhordar), the band’s conductor and Dina (Sophie Madorsky), the townsperson who shepherds the band to homes for the night, are a truly dynamic pair of foils. In completely different places in their lives, the universe throws these two together to learn to open up to others, even the smallest bit. Madorsky plays off of Barkhordar so well that their character-building chemistry is off the charts. When you see this show in a huge audience far away, you miss the subtle moments of connection. But you’d have to be trying to miss them here.
Because this show is so heavily ensemble-focused, everyone gets their moment to shine. At the same time, you may feel a twinge of heartache when those spotlight sections are over. I’m going to need someone to cast Armand Akbari (Haled) in more croon-heavy parts and Sam Linda (Papi) as a musical’s lovable leading man stat. While we’re at it, Harper Caruso (Telephone Guy) is going to need some more centerstage, golden-age Broadway power ballads.
At one point in the show, Avrum says, “music is a time machine.” He’s absolutely right. “Band’s Visit” takes so many of the traditional musical theater-type songs and mashes them together into an enchanting story about what it means to be a person in the world with other people in the world. And suddenly, we’re reminded, hearts full, that we’ve heard this song before.
On stage through March 17 at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. Tickets are $65-$75; available at writerstheatre.org.
