Broadway NewsThe Band’s Visit Closes on Broadway April 7The Tony-winning musical wraps up performances at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre ahead of its national tour this summer.
By
Olivia Clement
April 07, 2019
The Broadway musical The Band’s Visit plays its final performance April 7 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Upon closing, the production—which was awarded the most Tony Awards of the 2018 season—has played 589 regular and 36 preview performances.
The Band’s Visit officially opened November 9, 2017, having transferred from an acclaimed Off-Broadway run at the Atlantic Theater Company which began in December 2016.
Tony Shalhoub and Katrina Lenk
Matthew Murphy
Last June, the show went on to win ten of its 11 Tony Award nominations: Best Musical, Best Original Score for David Yazbek, Best Book of a Musical for Itamar Moses, Best Actress in a Musical for Katrina Lenk, Best Actor in a Musical for Tony Shalhoub, Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Ari’el Stachel, Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Tyler Micoleau, Best Sound Design of a Musical for Kai Harada, Best Orchestrations for Jamshied Sharifi, and Best Direction of a Musical for David Cromer.
The Band's Visit was a critical and commercial success, recouping its $8.75 million capitalization in September of last year, less than 12 months following first preview.
“What a hell of a run,” producer Orin Wolf told Playbill in February at the closing announcement. “It's a bittersweet thing, [but] anytime I think about this show and the life we’ve had, I can’t help but feel joy.”
“Not only did we get these reviews and have this night at the Tony Awards that was beyond all our expectations, but we made a profit, and that, to me, is extraordinary, and I want to preserve it.” Read the full interview here.
Based on the Israeli film of the same name by Eran Kolirin, The Band's Visit chronicles a single day in the Israeli desert town of Bet Hatikva, when an Egyptian Police Orchestra bound for another destination mistakenly wind up stranded in the “nowhere” spot. When the locals take in the travelers, unexpected bonds make for an unforgettable journey.
Company
Matthew Murphy
The current Broadway company includes Lenk, Sasson Gabay (who appeared in the original 2007 film), Stachel, Pomme Koch, Etai Benson, Adam Kantor, Andrew Polk, Samir Shukry, Bill Army, Rachel Prather, Jonathan Raviv, Alok Tewari, Bill Army, Sharone Sayegh, Kristen Sieh, Layan Elwazani, Ahmad Maksoud, Pomme Koch, Jodi McFadden, Zal Owen, and James Rana; the musicians include Alexandra Eckhardt, Ossama Farouk, Philip Mayer, Sam Sadigursky, Jeff Theiss, Harvey Valdes, and Garo Yellin.
The Band’s Visit will launch a national tour June 25, 2019, at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island, followed by the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC.), the Knight Theater (Charlotte, NC), the Cadillac Palace Theatre (Chicago, IL), the Orpheum Theatre (Minneapolis, MN), the Hippodrome (Baltimore, MD), the Golden Gate Theatre (San Francisco, CA), and the Smith Center (Las Vegas, NV), with more cities to be announced shortly.
The production features choreography by Patrick McCollum, scenic design by Scott Pask, costumes by Sarah Laux, lighting by Micoleau, sound design by Harada, projection design by Maya Ciarrocchi, hair design by Charles G. LaPointe (Hair Designer), orchestrations by Sharifi, musical supervision, direction, and additional arrangements by Andrea Grody, and musical supervision by Dean Sharenow.
The Band's Visit is produced by, in addition to Wolf and Atlantic Theater Company, StylesFour Productions, Evamere Entertainment, David F. Schwartz, Barbara Broccoli, Frederick Zollo, Grove•REG, Lassen Blume Baldwin, Thomas Steven Perakos, Marc Platt, The Shubert Organization, The Baruch/Routh/Frankel/Viertel Group, Robert Cole, DeRoy-Carr-Klausner, Federman-Moellenberg, FilmNation Entertainment, Roy Furman, FVSL Theatricals, Hendel-Karmazin, HoriPro Inc., IPN, JAM Theatricals, The John Gore Organization, Koenigsberg-Krauss, David Mirvish, James L. Nederlander, Al Nocciolino, Once Upon A Time Productions, Susan Rose and Paul Shiverick. Allan Williams serves as executive producer.
