THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
This quiet, intimate musical, based on the acclaimed 2007 Israeli film, arrives in London having won 10 Tonys and a Grammy on Broadway, but it has none of the bombast you'd expect from such a pedigree. Instead, it is quietly insistent and sure of its own irresistible, seductive, qualities. Its appeal is in its simplicity and a richly textured jazz score infused with Egyptian and Klezmer shadings.
In a sleepy town in Israel's Negev desert, well off the beaten path, a band of 8 musicians arrive. All are impeccably attired in sky blue military dress uniforms as they're the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra from Egypt. They have been sent on the wrong bus and are lost. They're there to play at the opening of an Arab Cultural Centre, but that's somewhere else. Stranded overnight they are offered warm hospitality by Dina, the local café owner and are met with a mixture of bewilderment, apprehension, and curiosity by the locals.
Gradually, a bond builds up between Dina, played by Israeli recording star Miri Mesika and the Band's Leader Tewfik. He's played by Israeli star Alon Moni Aboutboul, from FX TV's Snowfall. His quiet charisma couldn't be more perfect for the part.
The book has the texture of a great novel and a superb sense of place (aided by Soutra Gilmour's simple, perfect, set) and of time. It's at its best when it savors those quiet interactions between people. Dina and Tewfik share a common backstory of lost loved ones and mistakes that can't be unmade, but it hasn't defeated them. Mesika invests Dina with the voluptuousness of Nigella Lawson crossed with the earthy swagger of Anna Magnani and has a warm, honeyed, voice which really lifts the material.
Cleverly, the piece is never explicitly political (where would you start!) and instead focuses on what connects ordinary folk. Dina and Tewfik share a love for vintage Egyptian movies (which interestingly were always broadcast on Israeli TV) and in the piece's most touching song, 'Omar Sharif', they wallow in their shared love of the great man and his performance with the adored middle eastern diva Umm Kulthum. It reminds us that these adjacent cultures shared so much in common, not just film, music and food.
Another band member Simon, a trumpet playing Lothario channeling Chet Baker, ends up at a roller disco and aids a hapless, love-starved lad, Papi, improving his wooing skills. Another uses his laid-back style and seductive clarinet playing to win over an aging local musician Avru (veteran Peter Polycarpou), whose daughter and son are contending with a wailing infant and a rocky marriage.
Under Michael Longhurst's deft direction the human interactions here are beautifully observed with the comic relief, (such as the young main patiently waiting by a payphone for a lover's call), expertly blended with the gentlest of dramas.
The Band's Visit, which will stay with you, celebrates our common humanity and what unites us, without ever tottering over into schmaltz.
