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Acclaimed musical ‘ The Band’s Visit’ is visiting The Hanover Theatre
Richard Duckett
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
When James Rana joined the cast of “The Band’s Visit” for the first day of rehearsals in September 2017 ahead of the show opening on Broadway in November of that year, he may not have known that he would still be involved in the musical more than four years later.
But he did have an immediate sense that there was something special about the musical concerning an Egyptian police band that mistakenly travels by bus to a remote Israeli small town in the desert.
“I think the fact that it was so unlike most Broadway musicals,” Rana said. “The simplicity of the storytelling. There’s no showiness. And the beautiful lyrics and the gorgeous music. We did something different, there was something beautiful.”
A rather unusual storyline for a Broadway show, certainly. But that was part of the appeal.
Ten Tony Awards later, the national touring production of “The Band’s Visit” tour will visit The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester, for six performances Nov. 11 to 14. The show’s visit is part of The Hanover Theatre’s 202122 Broadway Series.
Rana is still on board — or rather, the bus. He’s an actor and writer with lots of theater and television experience, but said “The Band’s Visit” has changed his life.
“It reminds me to be a better person,” he said of the musical.
As “The Band’s Visit” played on Broadway, “people were loving the show,” Rana recalled.
People would find out exactly how much when the “The Band’s Visit” won 10 Tony Awards in 2018. It is one of four musicals in Broadway history to win the unofficial “Big Six” Tony Awards, which include Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, and Best Direction of a Musical.
“Someone said, ‘What is happening?’” Rana recalled of the shockwaves at the ceremonies.
Rana spoke on the phone Oct. 22 when the show was in Nashville, a stop for the national Broadway touring production that went back on the road earlier in October after being halted for over 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on a 2007 Israeli film of the same name, “The Band’s Visit” has music and lyrics by David Yazbeck (whose father is of Lebanese descent and his mother half Jewish and Italian) and a book by Itamar Moses.
The story opens with the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra at Tel Aviv bus station mistakenly ending up with bus tickets to a small town named Bet Hatikva instead of Petah Tikvah, where they are meant to be performing at the opening of an Arab cultural center.
At a café in Bet Hatikva, the owner, Dina, is eventually able to explain to the group’s conductor, Colonel Tewfiq, that they are not in the right place. However, there aren’t any buses until the next day, so Dina offers for the band to eat and stay the night.
Nicole Ackman, reviewing the touring production recently for Broadway World as it started up again, said “It’s a show about unlikely connections as we see the Arab musicians bond with those in the small town. There’s little conflict, certainly not the type that you might expect could arise from such a situation.
“The Band’s Visit” will be coming tot he Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester. MATTHEW MURPHY
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Instead, this delicate show provides gorgeous music and a sweet and unusual story.”
“The Band’s Visit” premiered at Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company in 2016 with Tony Shalhoub as Colonel Tewfig and Katrina Lenk as Dina. Shalhoub and Lenk moved with the show to the Broadway production at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
Rana was cast as a member of the ensemble and understudy to Shalhoub.
“I was there the whole run,” Rana said.
“The Band’s Visit” closed on Broadway in April 2019, and the national tour was quickly up and running, opening at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence in June 2019.
“I inquired,” Rana said about joining the tour. “I’m thrilled to be doing it.”
Currently, he is playing the role of Simon, the second in command in the band and a clarinetist who would love to conduct. Simon has also written a piece of music that he hopes one day might get performed.
“There’s moments of unfulfillment (in his life),” Rana noted.
Simon stays the night with one of the families in the small town, and like many of the characters in the musical has some nice moments of sharing in the unusual circumstances.
“He has a moment of fulfillment and he helps the people he’s staying with that night,” Rana said.
Meanwhile, are there sparks of a romantic kind going on between Tewfig and Dina?
Israelis and Egyptians finding literally harmonious bonds against a backdrop of centuries of conflict has a universal message.
“Absolutely … Putting differences aside. We’re human beings, and at the end of the day we’re going to help each other,” Rana said.
The music is Arab-influenced, and indeed the Broadway World review said, “while the songs are great, it’s the instrumental music that is the star.”
“In New York, I’ve had young Arabic audience members so proud,” Rana said. “It meant something to them and that’s an extraordinary thing.”
As the show had been playing in Nashville, “We’ve had wonderful audiences. The audiences are really enjoying it,” Rana said.
“This is a very electric city. Even in the afternoon, the bars are open and packed with live performances. It’s truly a musical city.”
Rana said he was walking down a street in Nashville with a “The Band’s Visit” bag when someone approached him and said they had seen the show.
“In Nashville, the home of bluegrass and country music. We really highlight Arabic music. The audiences love it. It shows how international music is,” he said.
The first incarnation of the tour had also been going well. There was a show March 12, 2020, in Pittsburgh, where the production was scheduled to be for a few days. Of course, the cast and crew knew things were going on.
“We were taking everything in real time. We knew we had a show that night,” Rana said.
That show went ahead. But the next night, Friday, March 13, no less, it was not to be.
“I was taking a tour of another theater in Pittsburgh when I got a message. ‘The bus will be taking The Band’s Visit to New York City. We will regroup in a few weeks.’”
It would take much longer, but Rana said, “Our producers never stopped having meetings.” The objective was “to bring the show back as safely as possible.”
Meanwhile, Rana was quite busy as the pandemic raged. He played Ambrose Bierce in the East Lynne Theater (Cape May, N.J.) production of “Nothing Matters” by Dave Geible. The production streamed online for six weeks and was featured in The New York Times, Broadway World and American Theater Magazine. He also played Ferdinand Magellan in the virtual production “Black Henry” for Atlantic Pacific Theatre.
Originally from Teaneck, N.J., Rana graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck where he majored in radio and television but also started performing in plays.
Theater got the call when he went to the prestigious Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence and earned an MFA in theater. He said he credits everything he knows about theater to his time at Trinity Rep. While in the New England area, he also acted with Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, but his upcoming stay in Worcester will be his first visit here.
Rana has written plays, had parts on TV shows such as “Madame Secretary” and “Third Watch,” and has a long list of Off-Broadway and regional theater credits.
But there was no doubt about it when “The Band’s Visit” was ready to resume its tour.
“It’s a great blessing that we are back,” Rana said.
Award-winning Israeli film actor Sasson Gabay has the role of Tewfiq, the part he created in the 2007 film and has subsequently played on Broadway and on tour, and Janet Dacal (”Prince of Broadway,” “Wonderland”) is Dina.
Rehearsals were held in September, and the tour officially got back underway Oct. 5 at the Durham Performing Arts Center in North Carolina and will continue on to more than 25 cities through the summer of 2022. All the while, “We’re following strict COVID protocols,” Rana said.
Following Nashville, the next scheduled stop on the tour was a return to Pittsburgh Oct. 28-31.
“What’s beautiful is we go back to Pittsburg and finish the performances we were unable to finish,” Rana said.
After four years, give or take a pandemic, Rana doesn’t show any signs of letting up on his enthusiasm about being a member of “The Band’s Visit.”
“Knock wood, I’ve never missed a show,” he said.
“For me, I never tire of the show. Even backstage watching (when he’s not in a scene) I find myself drawn watching the show. It still has an effect on me even though I joined the show fours years ago. I could keep on touring forever, but we are going to be ending the end of July. I hope the world is more healthy and all the theaters will be open.”
When the tour does conclude, it might not quite close the book on “The Band’s Visit” for Rana.
“I love meeting the people in every city. I’ve been keeping a full journal about everything,” he said.
“I’m hoping that it might become a book.”
Janet Dacal and Sasson Gabay appear in “The Band’s Visit.” Photo by Evan Zimmerman,
MurphyMade. EVAN ZIMMERMAN
When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11; 8 p.m. Nov. 12; 2 and 8 p.m. Nov. 13; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14. Audio descriptive services provided at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14. Where: The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester How much: $39, $49, $62 and $79 depending on seat location. (877) 571-7469. Visit www.thehanovertheatre.org for COVID-19 restrictions.
Hot Water Music set to keep things loud at the Palladium
Robert Duguay
Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
The best kind of show has a band pushing the amps up to their maximum volume, performing to the best of their ability with the crowd going crazy. There’s a unified appreciation for the moment, the time and each other, which is a feeling that we could surely use more of these days.
When it comes to the type of band that can pull this type of atmosphere off, Gainesville, Florida, punk rock act Hot Water Music fits the bill. The quartet of guitarist and vocalist Chuck Ragan, bassist Jason Black, drummer George Rebelo and guitarist Chris Cresswell, who is originally from the Canadian punks The Flatliners, know how to take over any sort of setting with unbridled energy. They’ll be exhibiting this and more when they come to the Palladium at 261 Main St. in Worcester on Nov. 14 with New Bedford’s A Wilhelm Scream and Brooklyn’s MakeWar opening up the show.
In November of last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, the band did something a bit out of the ordinary and recorded a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” and posted it on their Bandcamp page. They recruited saxophonist Peter “JR” Wasilewski from Less Than Jake to lead the horns.
“It was loads of fun, we’ve always been a fan of that song and it’s a hell of a track,” Ragan says about “Sir Duke.” “It started out just as one of those fun ideas that all of us in bands talk about while we’re in the bus, in the van, and in the airport killing time saying ‘Oh, it would be so crazy if we covered this or that or did this song.’ Unfortunately, most of these ideas don’t even come to fruition, they never really happen. This was one where Jason and George started talking about it and man, those guys are so good as the rhythm section for the song. They just started talking about it, we were keen on doing it and next thing we know they already started laying the track down and we all like ‘OK! All right, we’re doing it!.’”
“At the time, everybody was kind of split up all over the place,” he adds. “It was right during the shutdown, really. I think it was a healthy outlet for everybody and it was a good thing for everybody to do.”
Around a month and a half ago, Hot Water Music was part of a unique virtual event called “Greetings From Splitsville,” which was presented by the online talk show "Two Minutes To Late Night." It had the band covering songs by the Los Angeles hardcore act Terror and vice versa, which made for a unique approach when it came to making it happen.
“For starters, we love those guys,” Ragan says about Terror. “It may be totally different music than what we do but a lot of us have kind of the same ideals in life, living, music, ethics and how we should treat each other so we share a lot of common ground there. I think that’s why we’ve always gotten along with that band and we’ll see those guys at festivals from time to time and we’ve kind of just talked about it. I know Jason was the one who brought it up first even though I can’t remember who exactly spearheaded the idea but all I know is that when we started talking about doing the songs, I immediately was figuring out how it was going to go down. My first thought was that we can’t play these songs like they play these songs so we gotta make it our own, which is more or less either a rock n’ roll song or just a straight punk rock song.
“When it came to how we were going to do it, we started messing around with stuff while having it be a group effort with a bunch of ideas flinging around and we started knocking it out,” he adds. “That was definitely a lot of fun.”
Hot Water Music recently announced via social media that they have a new album coming out on Equal Vision Records and End Hits Records in the beginning of next year with co-vocalist, co-guitarist and non-touring member Chris Wollard. Ragan says that there will be a mix of the past and present.
“It’s still being worked on by a pretty broad group of friends from the record label, artwork and you name it,” he says about the album. “To me, it feels like a breath of fresh air. It's a big shot of old and new Hot Water songs. There’s some stuff on the new record that definitely reminds me of what we were doing 20 years ago.”
Hot Water Music is set to play the Palladium. DAVE DECKER
‘Cobra Kai’ and ‘Clerks’ stars set for Rhode Island Comic Con
Craig S. Semon
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
This weekend’s Rhode Island Comic Con has something for almost everybody.
For fans of the 1984 film “The Karate Kid” and its TV spinoff “Cobra Kai,” which kicks off its fourth season on Dec. 31 on Netflix, you have William Zabka, who originated the role of Johnny Lawrence, aka the 1984 All-Valley Karate Tournament rival of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio, who is not going to be at the RICC), and Martin Kove (who is attending RICC), who plays Lawrence’s sadistic sensei, John Kreese.
In addition to the Zabka and Kove, several of the young costars of “Cobra Kai” — including Gianni Decenzo (Demetri), Jacob Bertrand (Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz), Mary Mouser (Samantha LaRusso), Peyton List (Tory Nichols), and Xolo Mariduena (Miguel Diaz) — will also be in Rhode Island.
If you are a fan of “Clerks,” its writer, producer, director and one of its costars Kevin Smith will do a special, separate admission-priced panel Friday night (which is his only day there), while most of the movie’s stars, including Jason Mewes (who plays Jay opposite Smith’s Silent Bob), will be on hand for the whole weekend, plus fellow “Clerks” stars Brian O’ Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti and Scott Schiaffo and, from “Clerks II,” Trevor Fehrman and Kevin Weisman.
In the guise of life imitates TV reruns, William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk on “Star Trek,” last month became the oldest person who ever reached “Space, the Final Frontier” in real-life, courtesy of a multibillionaire Jeff Bezos’ complimentary tickets on Blue Origin’s second sub-orbital human spaceflight.
The 90-year-old actor is always a hoot to listen to and now that he has the profound experience of crossing the Kármán line (the widely recognized boundary between the atmosphere and space about 63 miles above the Earth) who knows what wisdom and/or witticisms this real-life “Rocketman” has in store for RICC guests.
While Carl Weathers is probably best known for playing Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” series and Giancarlo Esposito is best known for playing Gus Fring on “Breaking Bad,” Weathers and Esposito, who also have key roles in Disney’s big hit, “The Mandalorian,” will be joined by Chris Barlett, Emily Swallow and Omid Abtaki, all costars of hit “Star Wars” spinoff saga.
For fans of the teen romantic comedy “She’s All That,” Rhode Island Comic Con is reuniting the film’s big man on campus (Freddie Prinze Jr.) with unpopular dork-turned-popular prom queen (Rachael Leigh Cook).
Also at RICC, Cook, who also stared as Josie in “Josie and the Pussycats,” will bring twothirds of the band together with fellow Pussycat Tara Reid, who played the fictitious band’s absent-minded drummer and backup singer in the film.
For fans of the clever Wes Craven-directed/Kevin Williamson-written slasher film, Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich will be sharpening their wits and, possibly, knives.
Lillard, who also starred in “She’s All That,” played Shaggy to Prinze’s Fred in the live-action “Scooby-Doo” movie and its sequel.
For “Walking Dead” fans, you have Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes, the ill-fated son of Sheriff Rick Grimes), Jeremy Palko (Hilltop Colony member Andy) and Ryan Hurst (aka the menacing Beta of “The Whisperers”).
In the anti-heroes, superheroes and anti-super-heroes niche, cast members of “The Warriors” (including Brian Tyler, David Harris, Dorsey Wright, Terry Michos and Thomas G. Waites) will come out and play with guests at the RICC, while “The Boys” stars Dominque Mcelligott, Jessie T. Usher, Karen Fukuhara, Laz Alonso and aforementioned Esposito will be up to superhero shenanigans. Alan Ritchson, Curran Walters and Savannah Welch from “Titans” will be on hand as well.
Fans of the “My Hero Academia” will have a chance to meet the Japanese superhero manga series’ voiceover talents Brina Palencia, Bryce Papenbrook, Christopher Wehkamp, Ian Sinclair, James Marchi, Justin Cook and Trina Nishimura.
“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” fans will want to go to Rhode Island Comic Con to meet Walter Emanuel Jones (the original Black Ranger on “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”) and Blake Foster (the Blue Turbo Ranger on “Power Rang-
From left, Jacob Bertrand, William Zabka and Xolo Mariduena are three of the seven stars from “Cobra Kai” that are appearing this weekend at the Rhode Island Comic Con. Also appearing from “Cobra Kai” are Martin Kove, Gianni Decenzo, Mary Mouser and Peyton List. SONY PICTURES TELEVISION Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook, who starred together in “She’s All That,” are just two of the guests appearing this weekend at the Rhode Island Comic Con.
MIRAMAX FILMS
Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith (seen here in 2019’s “Jay And Silent Bob Reboot) will be at the Rhode Island Comic Con, along with many stars from “Clerks.” SABAN FILMS
Comic con
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ers Turbo”)
In the blast from the past department, Rhode Island Comic Con welcomes Jerry Matthews and Tony Dow of “Leave It To Beaver” fame; Lou Ferigno, who played the green behemoth in “The Incredible Hulk”; Debbie Dunning and Richard Karn of “Home Improvement”; and Larry Thomas, aka “The Soup Nazi” from “Seinfeld.”
For those who are into wrestling and fighting, AEW wrestlers Adam Cole, Britt Baker, Matt Hardy and Ruby Soho, ECW’s Francine Queen of Extreme, "GLOW’s" Gremlina, MMA fighter Rampage Jackson, NWA’s Velvet Sky, twotime TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray, WWE wrestler Jerry “The King” Lawler, John Layfield and Adam Scherr, and WWF wrestler Honky Tonk Man will be signing autographs, posing for pictures and hitting the mat for fans.
If horror and scares are your thing, RICC has Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin on “Stranger Things”; Jackson Robert Scott, who played Georgie, in “It Chapter One” and "It Chapter Two”; Tony Todd, who has played “Candyman” in four films; and James Jude Courtney, who played Michael Myers in 2018’s “Halloween” and this year’s “Halloween Kills.”
C. Thomas Howell (star of “Red Dawn” and “The Outsiders”), Joey Fatone of NSYNC, David Koechner (star of “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “The Office”), Taryn Manning (“Orange Is the New Black”) and Tom Arnold (“Roseanne” and “True Lies”) will also be there.
If you go
Rhode Island Comic Con is from 3 to 9 p.m. Nov. 5, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 6, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Dunkin Donuts Center and the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island. All patrons, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear masks at all times, unless eating or drinking at a set location. At this time, organizers are not requiring fans to be vaccinated or show negative test results. For information on tickets, panels, guests, and directions, check www.ricomiccon.com/.
Fallissittingbyalake,withaspiced drinkinonehandandacomfortmeal intheother...nothingbetter!
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Worcester Art Museum, India Society of Worcester team for Diwali Fall Community Day
Veer Mudambi
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
Growing up Indian American, early November to the end of December was one long festive season, celebrating Diwali and Christmas along with Thanksgiving between them. It felt like I had the best of both worlds. My family ensured I knew the traditional Diwali stories and customs even though we couldn’t always practice them.
As a kid, I remember looking forward to hearing about how the festival was observed when my parents were growing up in India — if you think the community fireworks in Worcester this past summer was a lot, try Mumbai during Diwali.
Diwali or Deepavali, which is the full name, means rows (avali) of lights (deepa) and celebrates light of all kinds — physically, the brightness of lamp light in the darkening autumn season, spiritually, as inner illumination from ignorance to knowledge, and metaphorically, the victory of good over evil.
The festival of lights is a set of five days of celebration, beginning Nov. 4 this year — food, family and fireworks, with the five days of observance meant to honor knowledge, prosperity, and family relationships. In India, all households, from the wealthiest to the humblest, put out little clay lamps with homemade wicks at the doors and windows so that the goddess of prosperity, Lakshmi, would find her way to their homes in the dark. When I was a kid, it was the one day a year that it was okay to leave the lights on throughout the house.
Diwali, thought to be a harvest festival in ancient times, is the third day of the five days, and falls on the darkest day of the Hindu lunar month, Kartik. For Hindus, the day is in honor of Rama, a mythological hero who returned to his kingdom with his queen after their 14year exile during which he defeated the demon king. Their saga makes the Indian epic known as the Ramayana.
Oftentimes it coincides roughly with Halloween, and I remember making the (extremely simplified) explanation to my friends that while we don’t have Halloween in India, we do have a holiday celebrating demon-slaying.
Locally, Worcester Art Museum and the India Society of Worcester will come together on Sunday, Nov. 7, for a Diwali Fall Community Day. Activities will include dance, music, lamp lighting, a Saree fashion show, a special docent led tour and Indian food. It is the fifth year that they have partnered to bring Diwali to the community of Worcester.
The program:
Story Time with the Indian Society of Worcester (10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.) — Hear the epic tale of the Ramayana: good defeats evil, light overcomes darkness, and knowledge triumphs over ignorance.
Diwali Lamp Lighting (11 a.m.–noon) — Witness this time-honored tradition of lighting the rows of clay lamps that symbolizes the inner light that protects from spiritual darkness.
Diwali Cultural Programming with Dance and Music (11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m.) — The Indian Society of Worcester presents a lineup of traditional, modern and contemporary Indian performances in the Renaissance Court.
Bawarchi Biryanis: Feast on Authentic Treats (11:30 a.m.–3 p.m.) — Bawarchi Biryanis restaurant of Framingham will provide traditional Indian cuisine available for purchase.
Honoring Lakshmi: Lotus, Mudras, and other symbols in Hindu and Buddhist Art (12:30 p.m.) — A special docent-led tour focused on India connections.
Henna by Meghna (11 a.m.–3 p.m.) — See how a mehndi artist works and receive your own henna.
Cultural programming and fashion show, “Saree — A Cultural Heritage of India” (1:15 p.m.–2:15 p.m.) — Indian dance and music. The end of the programming will provide a close up view of the vibrancy and color of India’s traditional garments in this Diwali cultural dance and fashion show.
Studio Art Activities (11 a.m.–3 p.m.) — Mandala art led by WAM Teen Council Members; Rangoli Sand workshops are led by WAM instructors for all ages, abilities, and interests.
All programs and activities are free. The Worcester Art Museum is located at 55 Salisbury St. Masks are required for all visitors, age 5 and older, regardless of vaccination status.
Dancers perform in Renaissance Court as part of a past Diwali celebration at Worcester Art Museum. COURTESY OF WORCESTER
ART MUSEUM
