ARTS&LIFE
MUSICAL THEATER
The Band’s Visit
Israeli-set production comes to the Fisher Theatre April 19-May 1. SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Sasson Gabay
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APRIL 7 • 2022
M
usical theater audiences trade in razzle-dazzle staging for more subtle expressions of the heart when they view The Band’s Visit appearing April 19-May 1 at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre. The caliber of the experience has been heralded by professional colleagues after seeing the Broadway run of the production, which is set in Israel. The play became one of only four musicals ever to win six Tony Awards. In 2017, judges voted top rankings in the categories of Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Direction. The storyline explores personal reactions and interactions, with some laughs, as members of an Egyptian band heading for a performance in Israel mistakenly get on the wrong bus. They find themselves dropped off in a remote area that unexpectedly connects them — heart-to-heart — with lonely town residents as they wait for the next bus. The production is an adaptation of an Israeli film written and directed by Eran Kolirin and developed for the stage at the behest of New York producer Orin Wolf, whose wife, Shiri Bilik Wolf, was raised in Michigan and occasionally wrote for the Detroit Jewish News. “My romance with this project started in 2007 when we shot the film, and it hasn’t stopped,” said Sasson Gabay, an award-winning Israeli stage, film and TV star, who continued
