THE BAND's VISIT Reviews — Page 9

Didn't want to start a whole new thread. Curious if anyone knows where the digital lottery seats are located. TY.

I was at Saturday evening's performance. Tony Shalhoub's replacement, Dariush Kashani, was simple and sweet, but rather a minor character in the scheme of things. Without prior knowledge I would have had no idea he was the male lead. I admired the show quite a bit, though wasn't quite seized by emotion enough to say I actually loved it. Perhaps it was the distance to the stage (we were front row center in the mezzanine, yet the acting all seemed to be directed toward the orchestra patrons). Perhaps it was the lack of a dominant relationship to follow.

I greatly enjoyed individual moments (any of Katrina Lenk's solos); I adored the near-constant background instrumentals that underscored most of the dialogue; I thought Scott Pask's unit set was spot on, a perfect neutral canvas to tell you everything you needed to know of this forgotten town. The cast was impeccable (though some mighty thick accents meant I was guessing at half the words they spoke or sung). They really nailed the "Israeli-ness" of the characters-- I spent a year there in my youth and not a choice was out of place. Although the very first number seemed like a ripoff of the opening number from "Women on the Verge..." which gave me pause, the rest of the score was full of absolute treasures. I'll be very curious if the cd of the OBC is something I'll play over and over, divorced from the live performance.

I don't know-- Perhaps it was the 90-minute running time that kept me from falling in love -- if the story didn't mandate spending 2 and a half hours with these folks, was it really the right story to tell?

Updated On: 4/2/18 at 05:25 PM

SOMEONE IN A TREE said: I was at Saturday evening's performance. Tony Shalhoub's replacement, Dariush Kashani, was simple and sweet, but rather a minor character in the scheme of things. Without prior knowledge I would have had no idea he was the male lead.

I saw this twice with Tony Shaloub, and I have to say that nothing about his lovely performance suggested he was the "male lead." One of the great things about this show is the strength of the ensemble as an ensemble, and to have someone stand out might destroy that. SO I don't think that his replacement is in any way a lesser performance. I am going back for a third time in a few weeks, so I will see for myself.

Lenk is amazing. Should I say first among equals?

I haven't seen many of the new musicals this year, due to my own lack of interest in them - but surely, this must be a front runner for the Tony. Would love to see it win."

I really don’t see any serious challenger to TBV winning the Tony. Even in a strong year it would be a serious contender. But this year it sure seems about as close to a lock as you can get, except for Lenk who IS a lock

^Don't worry, she will! Truly not an obstacle in her path.

I'm glad to hear he was in the show tonight, but I'd really like to know what other dates he'll be in. I'd really like to catch him. I was going to stop by the box office last night before I saw Iceman but didn't have enough time. Hoping to see Shalhoub!

Updated On: 6/1/18 at 10:44 PM

Here is the announcement from February. I do not think I have seen a more specific announcement.

http://www.playbill.com/article/tony-shalhoub-takes-hiatus-from-the-bands-visit-dariush-kashani-to-step-in

bfreak said: "I'm glad to hear he was in the show tonight, but I'd really like to know what other dates he'll be in. I'd really like to catch him. I was going to stop by the box office last night before I saw Iceman but didn't have enough time. Hoping to see Shaloub!"

I think I overheard an usher telling someone after it was over that he'll be in tomorrow's matinee as well. They were talking about him leaving and coming back, which is what I was wondering about. I guess the card announcement of him only being in tonight's performance is what threw me off. It didn't occur to me that they'll just stuff it in any time he performs and is not the main actor at the time.

Nope, Kristen Sieh has not been out. And in fact, in the one scene where she has to walk from the dining room to the baby's crib, she clearly has a limp—which, to be honest, is a kind of amazing and totally in-place characteristic of that character that kinda needs no explanation.

THE BAND’S VISIT (spoilers ahead):

I was seated in the very front row Orchestra AA109. The stage is right there. In your face. To give you an idea, I’m approximately (though shrinking every year) 5’10” tall, and when I was seated the stage was equal in height to the top of my head. So, yes, you’re (I was) basically looking up the entire show, although at varying angles depending on how close the cast got to the very front of the stage. And you’re so close you can see them spit when they’re yelling at each other. At times there was action going on both sides of the stage and you’re (I was) getting whiplash. And when they’re mid-stage, you see basically from the ankles or mid-shin and up.

Most know it’s a one act musical, 90 minutes, no intermission.

As for the show itself, I had been listening to the OBCR for about two months, and knew all the songs. Seeing it play out on stage, and witnessing how the songs were injected into the action, was fascinating.

Katrina Lenk (Dina) was literally the center of attention anytime she was on stage. Sure you looked at the cast member replying to her, or whoever she’s having the conversation with, but she is mesmerizing and all you could do was look at her. The entire cast worked brilliantly as an ensemble.

My favorites, other than Katrina Lenk, were Etai Benson who I’d seen before in the National Tour of “An American in Paris, and Adam Kantor (he played Mark Cohen in the closing cast of Rent, and I had watched him on YouTube). Etai played Papi, Adam played Telephone Guy. For a good part of the show Telephone Guy just stood nearly motionless in front of the pay phone, wherever it was onstage. Just staring. At the phone. A thankless part of the show until the end, when he got “the call” and the entire cast joined in to sing “Answer Me”. And my God, what a stunning song. It’s my favorite of the OBCR.

Other favorite songs were:

“Omar Sharif”, with Dina so very deeply sharing her love and passion of Egyptian music (Umm Kulthum) and movies (Omar Sharif), her arms elegantly and sensually caressing the air;

“Papi Hears the Ocean” (cute and funny) with “Haley’s Song About Love” (brilliantly sung), with most the entire disco/nightclub scene just as cute as it could be. Every time Papi’s date would skate by his eyes got as big as saucers in fear of having to interact with his crush;

“The Park”, “Itgara’a”, and “Something Different”, where Dina and Tewfiq get to know more about each other’s lives. Being so close to the stage I could sense their was an actual attraction from Dina, but Tewfiq stayed aloof. They shared quite a few laughs, and deep emotional stories, and there was a connection, but I still felt Tewfiq wasn’t yet there. The scene where he shows her what it’s like to conduct music, truly beautiful.

and “Welcome to Nowhere”, with Dina, all hand-on-hip and in charge, but “indifferent” to the non-Petah Tikvah and how boring it all is, Papi rubbing his face like he’d just had about enough of the town, then bouncing up and down to the beat of the song, and Itzik (played by John Cariani) really getting into the song bouncing up and down in his seat.

Speaking of Itzik, I think one of the most heartfelt, gut wrenching scenes came from his wife Iris after they had both been fighting and arguing and her been just being “done” and disgusted with their relationship the whole show. After Simon (Tewfiq’s second in command, who had been staying at their house) lulled the crying baby back to sleep, Itzik and Iris have one last knock down drag out fight, then she just breaks down in the most amazing crying I’d ever witnessed. You could truly feel her absolute pain. And the way Itzik held on to her as she battled his embrace, and they collapsed to the floor together, her just sobbing. It was heartbreaking.

The production and scenery are basic and simple, and the main scenes rotate on a turntable with perfection between locations. There’s projections of clouds and moon in some scenes, and its subtle without being distracting. And when Telephone Guy gets “the call” the translation is projected onto the main structure in the middle of the stage for all to see.

This story of how different people from different cultures and countries came together, helped each other, and fell in love, then went their own way, was also simple.

But it is a stunning achievement in how simple can be overwhelmingly beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, and how they connected with each through a shared loved of music.

Updated On: 6/1/18 at 12:19 PM