One of the hottest musicals on Broadway right now is The Band’s Visit, which was composed by David Yazbek and based on the 2007 film The Band’s Visit. The musical premiered in December of 2016 and won the 2017 Obie Award for Musical Theatre as well as other awards such as the New York Drama Critics’ Circle award for Best Musical.

The Band’s Visit is about an Egyptian police band that went, mistakenly, to the middle of the Israeli desert. They had no place to stay, and being in a foreign country, they were not able to speak the native language. The next bus out of the town was not until the next day. A café owner, Dina, lets the band seek shelter with her and her friends. Dina and Tewqif, the leader of the band, go out together, and Dina develops feelings towards Tewqif.

The original movie had no music, so all of the music composed for the performance was added afterwads by score-writer David Yazbek. During the show, many of the musicians were on stage while playing their instruments during the scene changes, which was very cool. My favorite song was “Answer Me.” The telephone guy is singing about how he always waits for his girlfriend to call because he misses her so much. It is one of the last songs in the show, and it has amazing harmonies. It is a very powerful ending to the show because many people can connect to waiting for a loved one.

The show runs to about 90 minutes. There is no intermission, so it is very short. The show started previews on October 7, 2017, and opened on November 9, 2017. A ticket is about $126.50, but since this is not a very popular show, cheaper tickets can be found. Tickets can be found for as low as $60.

The show has won many awards. In 2017, the show won three Drama Desk awards, two Lucille Lortel awards, the New York Drama Critics Circle award for best musical, two Outer Critics Circle awards, a Theater World Award, and two Obie awards.

The show was cast very well. The entire cast played the roles very well and had very convincing accents.  John Cariani, Itzik, played his role so well and was very funny. Adam Kantor, telephone guy, had the very powerful song, “Answer Me,” and performed it very well.  Katrina Lenk, Dina, had a beautiful voice and was perfect for the part. Tony Shalhoub, Tewqif, was phenomenal.  The entire cast made the show very enjoyable.

After the show, I went to the stage door to try and meet some of the cast. The day I went, it was very windy, so I did not get to meet very many actors. The actors who came out were very nice and down to earth. Many of the actors who came out talked to each person, even though it was so cold.