The multi-talented stars of The Band’s Visit, several of whom also play their own instruments, have re-upped for the Broadway transfer this fall, including leads Tony Shalhoub and Katrina Lenk. Director David Cromer’s staging of the intimate musical, with score by David Yazbek (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and book by Itamar Moses (The Fortress of Solitude) based on the screenplay by Eran Kolirin, is slated to begin performances October 7 and open November 9 at the Shubert Organization’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
In this adaptation of the 2007 film, Shalhoub (Act One, Monk) plays the leader of an Egyptian military band that, through a travel mix-up, finds itself stranded overnight at a remote Israeli village whose lone café is run by Lenk (currently in Indecent).
The company includes John Cariani (Something Rotten!), Ari’el Stachel (We Live in Cairo), George Abud (The Visit), Andrew Polk (Burning), Bill Army (Act One), Rachel Prather (Once), Jonathan Raviv (Martyrs Street), Sharone Sayegh (Mamma Mia!), Kristen Sieh (The Fortress of Solitude) and Alok Tewari (Awake and Sing!).
The creative team includes Andrea Grody (music director), Patrick McCollum (choreography), Scott Pask (set), Maya Ciarrocchi (projections), Tyler Micoleau (lighting), Sarah Laux (costumes), Kai Harada (sound), Jamshied Sharifi (orchestrations) and casting by Tara Rubin Casting.
The Band’s Visit had its world premiere run last season at off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theatre Company, where critics from several publications, including Deadline, called it the best musical of the season. The New York Drama Critics Circle, which considers shows from Broadway and off-Broadway, named it the best musical of the 2016-2017 season.
