Review: THE BAND'S VISIT at The Paramount Theatre

Dear Readers, I want to tell you a story about a show. You probably never heard of it because it's not very important. Wait! No, it is important, and you should have heard of it. At least since the show in question is the winner of 11 Tony Awards including Best Musical, "The Band's Visit", currently playing at the Paramount Theatre. But sadly, too few do know this show but let's try and remedy that, shall we?

Based on the 2007 Israeli film of the same name, at open we find ourselves in an Israeli bus station with the members of the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra led by the stoic Tewfiq (Sasson Gabay, who also played the role in the original film). This Egyptian band are on their way to the Arab Cultural Center in Petah Tikvah to play a concert but due to a miscommunication and a lot of flirting from their junior member, Haled (Joe Joseph), he books them all onto a bus to the tiny, backwater town of Bet Hatikva. Once there, they find themselves stranded for the night and at odds with the language and cultural differences, but the local café owner Dina (Janet Dacal) takes pity and finds them lodgings for the night all over town. And what occurs in this one night is the building of bridges across those divides through the shared concepts of love, loss, family, and music.

The show is certainly not your typical, rollicking musical. You may not leave the theater dancing or humming your favorite tune (although you may since I find many of the tunes incredibly infectious). But thanks to the gorgeous music of David Yazbek and soul invading book from Itamar Moses as well as the deliberately paced direction of David Cromer, you will leave with a renewed faith in the humanity across all cultures, something we desperately need to remember these days. But it is a slow pace, with many pauses due to the broken English dialog, so allow yourself to sit back and let the jasmine wind sweep over you.

And if this stunning cast of performers has anything to say about it, you will be swept away. Gabay and Dacal have an undeniable chemistry even as they deny it all on stage. The pull between the two is palpable. Gabay brings Tewfiq to heart wrenching life beautifully as does Dacal who also manages some stunning vocals with the haunting "Omar Sharif". Joseph may start the show as a total hound dog but quickly shows himself to have an incredibly deep character especially with his "Haled's Song About Love".

But it's not just the three of them. The entire cast have their moments. Like the touching interactions with Yoni Avi Battat as the yearning band leader Camal and James Rana as the nervous Simon as they visit with Itzik (Clay Singer), his suffering wife Iris (Kendal Hartse) and her father Avrum (David Studwell) and their baby. As rousing and roof shaking as they all are in "The Beat of Your Heart" in the beginning of the show is how sweet and tender they get at the end with "Itzik's Lullaby". Or Haled teaching young Papi (Coby Getzug) how to be with a girl on a date. Or the heartbreaking Telephone Guy (Joshua Grosso) who begins the evocative "Answer Me" only to have the entire town join in.

And then there's the band itself. Sure, there's a killer orchestra below led by Adrian Ries, but the majority of the "band members" of the show also wow in between scenes with their fantastic Egyptian score as well as an incredible number at the end of the show. Truly spectacular.

"The Band's Visit" is one of those shows that comes along once in a blue moon. Not your usual fare but clicks on all levels by dancing to its own lilting tune. And I cannot stress enough how you want to catch it. And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give "The Band's Visit" at the Paramount Theatre a "this one is a thing of pure beauty" WOW. A gorgeous message of hope and acceptance in our divided world.

"The Band's Visit" performs at the Paramount Theatre through March 13th. For tickets or information visit Seattle Theatre Group online at www.stgpresents.org.

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