A new version of the musical that swept the Tony Awards after its Broadway debut is coming to TheatreSquared next month.
T2 is set to co-produce The Band’s Visit with Chicago’s Writer’s Theatre beginning on Oct. 11, and running through Nov. 5.
The show is a musical adaptation of the 2007 Eran Kolirin film of the same name. The show debuted on Broadway in 2017, and won 10 Tony Awards that year, including the “big six” of Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, and Best Direction of a Musical.
The show also won a Grammy for best musical album, and an Obie Award and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical.
From the description of the show:
In a town that’s way off the beaten path, a band of musicians arrive lost, out of the blue. Under the spell of the desert sky, and with beautiful music perfuming the air, the band brings the town to life in unexpected and tantalizing ways. An extended hit in its Broadway debut, The Band’s Visit rejoices in the way music makes us laugh, makes us cry, and ultimately, brings us together.
Critics have raved about the musical. The Chicago Sun Times called it “a remarkable and boundlessly compassionate and humanistic piece of theater.”
The show will be directed by Zi Alikha, who was assistant director on the 2017 Broadway run of Six Degrees of Separation, and Resident Director for the national tour of Hamilton: An American Musical, among other credits.
The show will feature a cast of 14 actors and musicians who will all play their own instruments.
“Whenever I get to direct a play that’s already had a life before, my questions start with ‘How might this production teach the play something about itself?’” Alikhan said. “With our production, I immediately became interested in the intersection of community and language, especially languages we share, which led us to imagining a version of The Band’s Visit with a company full of actors all playing their own instruments, finding language through music together.”
Tickets to the show range from $20-$64, on sale now at theatre2.org.
