the band's visit cast donmar

Cast Announced For THE BAND'S VISIT at Donmar Warehouse

The production opens on 6 October 2022, with previews from 24 September, and runs until 3 December.

The Donmar Warehouse has announced the cast for the European première of David Yazbek and Itamar Moses ' multi-Tony award-winning musical The Band's Visit, directed in a new production by Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director Michael Longhurst . Leading the company are award-winning film, TV and stage actor Alon Moni Aboutboul and seven-time winner of Israeli Female Singer of the Year award, and judge on Kokhav Nolad, the Israeli version of American Idol, Miri Mesika. They are joined by cast and onstage band of Sharif Afifi , Jason Alder, Marc Antolin , Harel Glazer, Levi Goldmeier, Ido Gonen, Michal Horowicz, Emma Kingston , Shira Kravitz, Nitai Levi, Yali Topol Margalith, Ashley Margolis, Carlos Mendoza de Hevia, Peter Polycarpou , Ant Romero, Idlir Shyti, Maya Kristal Tenenbaum, Sargon Yelda and Baha Yetkin.

Michael Longhurst said, "I am so proud we are assembling this astonishing cast, musicians and creative team, to tell this beautiful story and cannot wait for audiences to discover the power of this Tony-winning musical here in London for the first time."

Cast and onstage band: Alon Moni Aboutboul, Sharif Afifi , Jason Alder, Marc Antolin , Harel Glazer, Levi Goldmeier, Ido Gonen, Michal Horowicz, Emma Kingston , Shira Kravitz, Nitai Levi, Yali Topol Margalith, Ashley Margolis, Carlos Mendoza de Hevia, Miri Mesika, Peter Polycarpou , Ant Romero, Idlir Shyti, Maya Kristal Tenenbaum, Sargon Yelda , Baha Yetkin.

Director: Michael Longhurst ; Musical Supervisor: Nigel Lilley ; Designer: Soutra Gilmour ; Lighting Designer: Anna Watson ; Sound Designer: Paul Groothuis ; Choreography, Movement & Intimacy Director: Yarit Dor; Casting Director: Anna Cooper CDG; Musical Director: Tarek Merchant; Associate Director: Orr Benezra-Segal; Assistant Musical Director: Natalie Pound ; Resident Assistant Director: Dadiow Lin; Cultural Consultant: Dr Lina Khatib; Arabic Music Consultant: Attab Haddad; Dialect Coach: Caitlin Stegemoller

Joining the creative team in CATALYST roles are Assistant Designer: Lucy Sneddon; Assistant Lighting Designer: Cat Salvini; and Assistant Sound Designer: Daberechi Ukoha-Kalu.

CATALYST supports the development of talent both on and offstage which is underrepresented both at the Donmar and in the wider industry.

In a quiet desert town way off the beaten path, a band of musicians arrive lost. As they wait for the next bus out, these unexpected visitors bring the town to life in surprising ways, proving that even the briefest visit can stay with you forever.

Winner of 10 Tony Awards and a Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album, The Band's Visit rejoices in the way music makes us laugh, makes us cry, and ultimately, brings us together.

Artistic Director Michael Longhurst directs the European premiere of The Band's Visit in a brand-new production, his next musical following his Tony-nominated revival of Caroline, or Change.

About the cast:

Alon Moni Aboutboul plays Tewfiq. He recently completed 5 successful seasons of John Singleton 's hit series Snowfall for FX, where he portrayed the fan favourite Avi Drexler. In 1989 he won the Israeli Film Academy's Best Actor Award for his performance in Uri Barbash's Ehad Mishelanu. He has since been nominated for Best Supporting Actor three times, again winning the award in 2003 for his performance in Savi Gabizon's Nina's Tragedies. Aboutboul played a pivotal role in Ridley Scott 's Body of Lies alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and has appeared in Christopher Nolan 's blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, Steven Spielberg 's Munich, Peter MacDonald's Rambo III and Eytan Rockaway's Lansky opposite Harvey Keitel , Sam Worthington and AnnaSophia Robb . He starred in London Has Fallen opposite Gerard Butler , Hand of God, which earned him another award from the Jerusalem Film Festival and A Place in Heaven, written and directed by Yossi Madmoni, which screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival and won him Best Actor at the International Film Festival of India in Goa. In 2018, he appeared in Beirut, directed by Brad Anderson . In the United States, Aboutboul has guest-starred on the television series Twin Peaks (The Return), FBI: International, Homeland, The Leftovers, Low Winter Sun, Fringe, Castle, Burn Notice, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NCIS: Los Angeles and The Blacklist. Some of Aboutboul's best work has been on the stage in Israel's most prestigious theatres. Just to name a few, he starred in theatre productions of Hamlet, King Lear, Caviar and Lentils, Sonia Mushkat, Blood Brothers, Closer, and Redemption. At the Haifa Theater, he starred in Andora, Yair, and a one man show called The Baby of Ben Shatrit. He's also performed at the Beer Sheva Theater, starring in The Jewish Zis and The Western Wharf. Alon is also an accomplished painter who has solo exhibits in Los Angeles and abroad, and will soon be releasing his first music album Family Business.

Sharif Afifi plays Haled. His theatre credits include My Fair Lady (London Coliseum), The Magician's Elephant (RSC), You Bury Me (Paines Plough), On Your Feet! (UK tour), We Live in Cairo (American Repertory Theatre), Hadestown (National Theatre), The Toyboy Diaries (Hope Mill Theatre), Wonderland (UK tour) and Rent (Greenwich Theatre); and, for film, Mamma Mia!... Here We Go Again!.

Dr Jason Alder is a musician who enjoys an international musical career as a clarinet and saxophone performer, educator, academic researcher, and recording engineer. His projects include contemporary classical, orchestral, jazz, pop/rock, and world music and has performed in venues such as the Berliner Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Stadsshouwburg Antwerpen, and Cadogan Hall. Jason has been active in musical theatre and opera for over 25 years performing on woodwinds, guitar, and bass guitar. Recent productions have included Ba-ta-clan (West Green House Opera), The Wiz, Hairspray, Gypsy, Drowsy Chaperone, and Reefer Madness (Bridewell). He has been involved in the creation and (sometimes onstage) performance of original music for new shows, such as Guys on Ice ( Jeff Daniels ' Purple Rose Theater), Storm, Moeder Blues, and Pillowman (ITs Theater Festival Amsterdam). Jason is a member of Payazen! Klezmer Band, JORO Afrobeat, Droste Effect (Balkan jazz), and performed with Grammy, Tony, and Emmy winners Idina Menzel and Rob Mounsey on the Idina Menzel World Tour. As a recording artist, Jason has been heard on BBC Radio 3 and on stations in the US, Austria, Spain, Netherlands, France, and Greece. He was recently a featured soloist on the soundtrack for the Paramount film Spell, BBC drama Ridley Road, ITV documentary The Thief, His Wife, and the Canoe, the animation Beren op de Weg which played at many film and animation festivals worldwide, released a solo album, Milieu Interieur, in summer 2022, and appears on numerous others. Originally hailing from the metro-Detroit area, Jason has lived in Europe since 2006. He received his musical training in the US, Netherlands, and earned his PhD from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Marc Antolin plays Itzik. His theatre credits include Murder on the Orient Express, Amadeus, Singin' in the Rain, The Music Man (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Magician's Elephant (RSC), Camelot (The Watermill Theatre ), Romantics Anonymous (Shakespeare's Globe/Bristol Old Vic/US tour), Cry Havoc (Park Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Sherman Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Woods, Hello, Dolly! (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Shakespeare's Globe/ Edinburgh Festival Fringe/UK & US tour), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare's Globe), Peter Pan (National Theatre), Taken at Midnight (Theatre Royal Haymarket/Chichester Minerva Theatre ), The Trial ( Young Vic ), From Here to Eternity (Shaftesbury Theatre), Matilda (RSC/Cambridge Theatre) and Imagine This (New London Theatre). For television, his work includes The Outlaws, Keeping Faith, Caerdydd and More Than Love; and, for film, London Road, Hunky Dory, Love Actually and Coconut Shy.

Harel Glazer makes his professional UK debut in the role of Papi. His other theatre credits include The Wizard of Oz (Hashana Theatre), A Song for Shira (HaKibutz Theatre). He has performed in concerts including Stephen Sondheim 's Old Friends - A Celebration (Sondheim Theatre) and Maria Friedman & Friends - Legacy ( Menier Chocolate Factory ).

Levi Goldmeier plays Zelger (and Understudy Haled). His theatre credits include Fatherland, Macbeth, Pentecost (Lawrence Hall Theatre) and Oliver! (Hyde Park St.Johns). For television, his credits include Wool.

Ido Gonen plays Sammy. His theatre credits include Everything Between Us (Marylebone Theatre), Cloud Nine, The Heiress (John Thaw Studio), On Your Walls (Sky Blue Theatre), 74 Georgia Avenue (New End Theatre), Naughty - Modern Romance and $ellebrity, Toyboy and Living With... (Blue Elephant Theatre), Spare (New Diorama Theatre), Crazy For You, Me and My Girl (London Palladium), Jew You Love Me? (HaSimta Theatre and The Lion and Unicorn Theatre), Actually, I-do (The Pheasantry), Got a Problem? (The Battersea Bridge), On Your Walls (The Lost Theatre), Head ( Kenneth More Theatre), Loving Art! ( Landor Theatre ), Yiff! (King's Head Theatre), The Producers (Cameri Theatre), Cabaret and Blood Brothers (Ramat Gan Theatre). For television, his credits include Autopsy: The Last Hours Of; and, for film, Aryan Papers.

Michal Horowicz plays Iris. Her theatre credits include Amsterdam (Orange Tree Theatre), Bylines (Theatre503), The Famous Five (Gobbledigook Theatre), Resources of Quinola (Cockpit Theatre), Thea Saves Her Parents (Hounslow Arts Centre), Mimi and the Mountain Dragon (Skewbald Theatre) and Gretel and Hansel (UK tour). For television, her credits include The Rabbi's Son and Tikva.

Emma Kingston plays Sammy's Wife (and Dina at certain performances). Her theatre credits include Carousel (Kilworth House), Heathers (The Other Palace), The Last 5 Years (Minack Theatre), Zorro (Hope Mill Theatre), Evita (International tour), Fiddler on the Roof (Chichester Festival Theatre), In The Heights (King's Cross Theatre/Southwark Playhouse), Les Misérables (Queen's Theatre), Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and Grease (UK tour). For television, her credits include The Sound of Musicals; and, for film, Been So Long and BKLYN. She has performed in concerts including Children of Eden (Cadogan Hall), A Little Night Music (Opera Holland Park), The New Year's Musical Concert (Tokyu Theatre Orb), West Side Story (BBC Proms), Honeymoon in Vegas (London Palladium), Something Wonderful (Royal Festival Hall) and Kings of Broadway (Palace Theatre).

Shira Kravitz makes her professional debut as Understudy Iris / Anna / Julia / Sammy's Wife.

Nitai Levi is Understudy Itzik / Papi / Telephone Guy / Sammy. For theatre his credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream and Spring Awakening (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). For television, his credits include Masters of the Air. He has performed in concerts including Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story (BBC Concert Orchestra/ Barbican Centre ), The Pillowman, The Glass Menagerie, The Wild Party, The Sweet Smell of Success and Letters Home (The Royal Academy of Music).

Yali Topol Margalith makes her professional stage debut playing Anna.

Ashley Margolis plays Telephone Guy. His theatre credits include Bad Jews (Arts Theatre), Oh! What a Lovely War (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Georgian Theatre Royal) and Beauty and the Beast (UK tour). For television, his credits include The VAR Room, Doctors, Casualty, So Awkward, Holby City, Anne Frank: A Life in Hiding, The City and the City, Comedy Playhouse: Broken Biscuits, Father Brown, Some Girls, Living the Dream and Hollyoaks; and, for film, A Christmas Number One.

Carlos Mendoza de Hevia plays Camal. His theatre credits include Let Me Play the Lion Too ( Barbican Centre ), Siyanda Protector of Plants (Kew Gardens), The Party's Over, The Band at the End of the World (UK tours), El Guru (La Rosa Theatre), La Sibylle (Dans La Poche) and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Royal Opera House). For television, his credits include Killing Eve.

Miri Mesika plays Dina. She is a multi-award-winning Israeli singer and actress, selling over 200,000 albums internationally. She was raised in Herzliya, where she learned music (guitar and flute) in the local conservatoire. She studied at the Yovel High School under Sofi Moskovich, then at the Rimon School of Music. She made her professional debut as a lead singer in a production marking the 50-year anniversary of Israel, directed by Tsedi Tsarfati, and music managed by Roni Vise, which she has performed all over Europe. She then sang in different musical groups at Rimon, where she met Uri Zach, who later produced her first album in collaboration with Shmulik Noifeld, one of her teachers. In 2000, Miri won the competition Shir Rimon, performing David Daor's "Ima Shel Guy". The next year she created her first independent show featuring the songs of Karen Peles, following which she was offered a recording contract with Anana in collaboration with the recording company Head Artsi. Miri launched her first album in 2005, featuring hit singles including "Le Sham", which also won the Galgalatz Radio's Song of the Year. It went Platinum, selling over 70,000 copies. Miri was also awarded Singer of the Year and Discovery of the Year. Her tour of the album which had started in small clubs moved quickly into large concert halls. In February 2006, she was awarded Singer of the Year by the Israeli Music Channel 24. Since 2005, Miri has released seven successful albums and won every possible title. In 2015 she won The Times of Israel Award for The Artist of the Year. Theatre includes: Shlomo Ha Melech Ve Shelmay Ha Sandlar (winner of Musical of the Year), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Les Misérables, and Od Hozer Hanigun (Habima). Her television credits include Ze Lo HaGil, The Psychologist, Me'orav Yerushalmi and Keshet; and she has been a judge on A Star is Born (the Israeli version of American Idol), Aviv or Eyal (the Israeli version of The Voice), The X Factor Israel, The School of Music and The Masked Singer; and, for film, Three Mothers and Restless.

Peter Polycarpou returns to the Donmar to play Avrum - he previously appeared in City of Angels. His other theatre credits include Indecent ( Menier Chocolate Factory ), A Very Expensive Poison (The Old Vic), Moonlight, Oslo ( Harold Pinter Theatre), Ross (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Choir (Glasgow Citizens Theatre), The Magistrate (National Theatre), Artefacts (Nabokov - Bush Theatre ), Last Easter (Birmingham Rep), Silver Birch House (Arcola Theatre), All the Ordinary Angels (Royal Exchange, Manchester), Anna in the Tropics; Follow My Leader (Hampstead Theatre), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Bridewell Theatre), Angels in America (Manchester Library Theatre), Titus Andronicus (RSC), Man of La Mancha (English National Opera), Working (Southwark Playhouse), Mrs Henderson Presents (Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto), Les Misérables ( Cameron Mackintosh , Dubai), Follies ( Royal Albert Hall ), Oliver! (Curve, Leicester), The Pajama Game, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd, Love Story (Chichester Festival Theatre), Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Concert, Miss Saigon (Cameron Macintosh), A Christmas Carol (Birmingham Rep), Imagine this (ICW Productions Ltd - New London Theatre), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (The London Palladium), Cats, Phantom of the Opera (Really Useful Group), The Secret Garden, Les Misérables (RSC) and Oklahoma! (National Theatre). For television his credits include Unforgotten, The Lost Honour of Christopher Jeffries, Tyrant, Defending the Guilty, Family Tree, Threesome, Hustle, Last Days of Lehman Brothers, Holby City, Empathy, Eastenders, The Bill, Waking the Dead and Sunburn; and, for film, Blue Iguana, Cleanskin, I Could Never Be Your Woman, O Jerusalem, De-lovely, Julie and the Cadillacs, Oklahoma!, Bloodlines: Legacy of a Lord and Evita.

Antonio Romero is a musician who was born in Jerez, Spain, and now lives in London. He was co-founder and drummer of the band El Hombre Burbuja which became known as one of the most influential groups to appear on the Spanish pop-rock scene at the end of the 90s. EHB recorded 4 LPs as well as collaborating on various movie soundtracks and frequently appearing at festivals and major venues throughout Spain. With the separation of EHB, Antonio moved completely away from the world of pop and fully dedicated himself to studying oriental percussion. Feeling passionate about this new field, he moved temporarily to Istanbul where he created a bond with Turkey and its music that has lasted until today. Antonio completed his professional studies in percussion at the Royal Conservatory Manuel De Falla . More recently Antonio has played and collaborated with such diverse groups and singers as Laura Marling and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Brian Finnegan, Boris Grebenshchikov, El Barrio, Hamza Namira, Matoula Zamani, Sarah Jane Morris , Antonio Forcione, Benjamin Ezcoriza (Radio Tarifa), India Martinez, Faia Younan, Lanja Ali, Cigdem Aslan, Attab Haddad, Los Delinquentes, La Banda Morisca, Agustin Carbonell "El Bola", Ramón Ruiz, Eduardo Niebla, Pepe Justicia, and Julio de la Rosa amongst many others.

Idlir Shyti is an Albanian cellist based in London. He has been awarded the 'Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste' under the tutelage of Anssi Karttunen at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. Previously he studied with Richard Lester at the Royal College of Music London and at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia Rome with Maurizio Gambini. He has played for many renowned musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Gary Hoffman and Johannes Goritzki. As a soloist he has performed with Sudwestdeutche Kammerorchester Pforzheim, Southbank Sinfonia, Orkestra Filharmonike e Tiranes amongst others. An ardent chamber musician, he has been invited to play at Rome Chamber Music Festival, Leamington Festival, Anghiari Festival, Different Trains Festival, Southwark International Music Festival, and alongside artists like the Allegri Quartet and Alberto Portugheis. His passion for contemporary music has led him to premiere chamber music works at Cheltenham Festival, Festival of Contemporary Music for All as part of Chineke and IXION ensembles. He has worked with composers such as Joseph Sonnabend, Michael Finnissy, Morgan Hayes, Xia-Leon Sloane. London premieres include The Key, an opera by Francesca Le Lohe for three trio ensembles and Kenneth Hesketh`s Ein Lichtspiel. Idlir is also an enthusiastic orchestra musician and has collaborated with Philharmonia Orchestra, English National Opera, BBC NOW, BBC CO, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Southbank Sinfonia, Welsh National Opera.

Maya Kristal Tenenbaum plays Julia. Her theatre credits include In The Heights (Starcatcher) and Avenue Q (Cinema City).

Sargon Yelda plays Simon. His theatre credits include Hex, Antony and Cleopatra, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Dara, Emperor & Galilean, Mother Courage and Her Children (National Theatre), Stovepipe (National Theatre & Bush Theatre ), Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare's Globe), Fanny and Alexander, King Lear (The Old Vic), The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, The Tempest (RSC), Human Animals, Teh Internet is a Serious Business ( Royal Court Theatre ), Incognito, Forget Me Not ( Bush Theatre ), Moby Dick and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Arcola Theatre). For television, his credits include Treason, Dead Pixels, Endeavour, People Just Do Nothing, Strike: The Silkworm, The Cuckoo's Calling, Innocent, Zen, Midnight Man, Saddam's Tribe and Compulsion; and, for film, Spectre and Close.

Baha Yetkin (musician) is a Turkish oud artist and composer. He grew up in Istanbul, the meeting point of two continents, and the prolific melting pot of European and Middle Eastern musical cultures. So, not very surprisingly, he was able to shape a very unique artistic style which embraced both Istanbul music and Middle Eastern music; which in return, paved the way for fruitful collaborations with Turkish and European masters of music like Mustafa Keser, Zeki Cetin, İnci Çayırlı, Melihat Gülses, Petros Klampanis, Michalis Kouloumis. Yetkin also garnered attention as the first ever Turkish oud artist to be invited to play flamenco in Spain, and to give a solo recital at Royal Albert Hall . Furthermore, these milestone events were preceded and followed by performances at prominent concert venues in Turkey and Europe such as Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall (Turkey), Zorlu Performing Arts Center (Turkey), Angora Theatre (Spain), Union Halle (Germany), and in the UK at the Royal Alert Hall, Asia House, the RAS, the RSC, Vortex, and Green Note, to name a few. He also performed in festivals like Alamar World Music Fest in Almeria, Yeldeğirmeni Spring Jazz Festival in Istanbul and Rebetiko Carnival in London. He has also done some Oud and Makam Music workshops in Istanbul, London, Cambridge and Madrid. His latest workshop was at Cambridge University in 2022. He makes videos to explain Ottoman music makams on his Youtube channel and his Superpeer channel. His first single Emperian and first album The Pearl was released in 2019, his second and third singles Shine Again and Tears of the Pearl were released in 2020 his latest album The Turkish Oud was released in 2021. They are on all digital platforms. He continues performing and teaching in the UK and on online platforms.

Itamar Moses ' work includes Outrage, Bach At Leipzig, Celebrity Row, The Four of Us, Yellowjackets, Back Back Back, Completeness, and The Whistleblower, the musicals Nobody Loves You (with Gaby Alter ), Fortress of Solitude (with Michael Friedman ), and the evening of short plays Love/Stories (Or But You Will Get Used To It).

David Yazbek is a Tony Award winning writer, musician, composer and lyricist. Broadway credits include Tootsie, Fish in the Dark, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Bombay Dreams and The Full Monty.

Michael Longhurst is Artistic Director of The Donmar Warehouse . For the company, direction includes Force Majeure, Midnight Your Time (lockdown film), Teenage Dick, Europe, Belleville and last summer's multicast revival of Nick Payne 's Constellations, which broke box office records at the Vaudeville and won the Olivier Award for Best Revival. Constellations previously ran on Broadway (Samuel J Friedman Theater, for MTC), West End (Duke of York's, Evening Standard Award Best Play), UK tour, originating at the Royal Court. His Chichester Festival Theatre production of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori 's Caroline, or Change transferred to Studio 54 for Roundabout Theater on Broadway with Sharon D Clarke reprising her Olivier Award-winning performance (also West End and Hampstead). The Broadway production received three Tony nominations including Best Musical Revival. Other theatre includes Amadeus with the Southbank Sinfonia (National Theatre/NTatHome), The Son (Kiln Theatre/Duke of York's Theatre), Gloria (Hampstead Theatre), Bad Jews (Theatre Royal Haymarket/ Theatre Royal Bath /UK tour & current revival at the Arts), They Drink It In The Congo and Carmen Disruption (Almeida Theatre), 'Tis Pity She's A Whore, The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare's Globe), If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet (Off-Broadway for Roundabout), Linda, The Art of Dying, Remembrance Day ( Royal Court Theatre ), A Number (Nuffield Southampton Theatres/ Young Vic ), Cannibals (Royal Exchange Theatre), The History Boys (Sheffield Theatres), Dealer's Choice (Royal & Derngate), The World of Extreme Happiness (NT Shed), Stovepipe (site-specific promenade with The National Theatre , HighTide and Bush Theatre ), Midnight Your Time (HighTide), On The Beach ( Bush Theatre ), On The Record, Gaudeamus (Arcola Theatre), dirty butterfly ( Young Vic - winner of the Jerwood Directors Award) and Guardians (Pleasance/Theatre503 - Fringe First Award).

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'The Band's Visit' sets cast at Donmar Warehouse

The award-winning musical will run for two months this autumn.

See the actors visiting the Donmar Warehouse! The cast has been set for the European premiere of The Band's Visit , David Yazbek and Itamar Moses's musical, which won multiple Tony Awards on Broadway.

Leading the cast are award-winning stage and screen actor Alon Moni Aboutboul as Tewfiq, and seven-time Israeli Female Singer of the Year award winner Miri Mesika as Dina. She is also a judge on the Israeli version of American Idol .

The cast also includes Sharif Afifi as Haled, Marc Antolin as Itzik, Harel Glazer as Papi, Levi Goldmeier as Zelger, Ido Gonen as Sammy, Michal Horowicz as Iris, Emma Kingston as Sammy's Wife (and Dina at certain performances), Yali Topol Margalith as Anna, Ashley Margolis as Telephone Guy, Carlos Mendoza de Hevia as Camal, Peter Polycarpou as Avrum, Maya Kristal Tenenbaum as Julia, and Sargon Yelda as Simon. Shira Kravitz and Nitai Levi are understudies.

The musical's onstage band includes Jason Alder, Ant Romero, Idlir Shyti, and Baha Yetkin.

Based on the film written by Eran Kolirin, The Band's Visit follows a group of musicians who find themselves lost in a remote town. In the short time they're figuring out how to get back on the road, they meet the locals and bring the town unexpectedly to life. The show premiered in New York in 2017 and won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Michael Longhurst directs The Band's Visit at Donmar Warehouse, which runs from 24 September to 3 December. It is his latest musical following his revival of Caroline, or Change starring Sharon D Clarke, which had acclaimed runs in both London and New York.

The creative team for The Band's Visit also includes composer/lyricist David Yazbek, book writer Itamar Moses, set designer Soutra Gilmour, lighting designer Anna Watson, sound designer Paul Groothuis, choreographer and movement and intimacy director Yarit Dor, musical director Tarek Merchant, and musical supervisor Nigel Lilley.

Check back for information on The Band's Visit tickets on London Theatre.

Photo credit: Moni Aboutboul as Tewfiq and Miri Mesika as Dina. (Photo by Helen Murray)

Originally published on Aug 22, 2022 13:28

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The Band’s Visit review – entrancing musical about nothing and nowhere

Donmar Warehouse, London When an Egyptian orchestra accidentally tips up in a sleepy Israeli backwater, lives are changed in the quietest of ways

‘N othing is as beautiful as something you didn’t expect.” That’s the story of this 2016 musical, and also its entrancing effect. Based on a 2007 Israeli film about an unplanned encounter between Egyptian musicians and the people of an Israeli backwater, the musical is a charmer about lives changed in the quietest of ways.

We first see a luggage carousel, and a clutch of men in incongruous powder blue uniforms. This is the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, booked for a prestigious gig in the city of Petah Tikvah. A mid-flirt mistake at the ticket office lands them in Bet Hatikva, a nowhere town in the Negev desert, “basically bleak and beige and blah blah blah”. It’s a place where nothing happens, every day.

The bus to the city doesn’t leave until tomorrow, so the musicians bed down around town. And that’s it, that’s the plot. We follow characters through a long warm evening – from a fractious family apartment to the local roller disco and a poor excuse for a park. Everything here is unfinished business: neglected ambitions, an incomplete concerto, a never-ringing payphone. Even Soutra Gilmour’s set is backed by tiers of bricks from an abandoned building project. At least the band has somewhere to sit.

And it’s music that drives the show forward, nudging the characters’ anxious minds and clouded hearts. With its klezmatic clarinet, emphatic oud and a flute like a desolate wind, it’s thrilling to hear the band’s squall and rumble. David Yazbek’s Tony-winning score begins in twitchy languor – the sigh of a place where nothing happens, the fret of wishing it would – then deepens, cradling songs of desire and disappointment.

If there is a central thread in this ensemble show, it’s the near-romance between Tewfiq and Dina, the gruff conductor and the local cafe owner. Alon Moni Aboutboul’s Tewfiq hides behind his peaked cap and mournful courtesy. As the night unrolls, he demonstrates the conductor’s art in a delicate hand ballet and scrapes the rust off his voice in lilting Arabic song.

Dina is smart, disillusioned and ragingly unfulfilled – we don’t know exactly how she feels about her ex-husband, but the decisive way she carves up a watermelon gives an idea. In a stunning performance by Israeli performer Miri Mesika, each song reveals new textures in her voice, from sardonic iron to yearning velvet. The standout number has her sink into the memory of watching Omar Sharif’s romantic movies, “floating in on a jasmine wind”.

Scenes in Itamar Moses’s tangy script often end too soon – they scarper at a song’s close rather than linger with a situation. Both hosts and visitors know each other too well, but encounters with strangers mean that people must explain themselves. Every conversation prises a lid off complex emotion, probes at tender places.

Even scene changes thrum with character in Michael Longhurst’s open-hearted production. I loved spending time with his poker-faced cast, masters of shrug and eye roll. They include Michal Horowicz’s miserable wife, too worn down to sing, Marc Antolin’s drifting manboy, Sargon Yelda’s attentive composer and Ashley Margolis, waiting by the phone like a lonesome muppet.

The smallest things can lift them. A doleful waiter (Harel Glazer), easily panicked by women, gets romantic advice at the roller disco. A tearful baby is soothed by a clarinet lullaby. This unexpected night may not change lives forever – but it helps people face a new day.

At the Donmar Warehouse, London , until 3 December

• Donmar Warehouse
• Soutra Gilmour

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Alon Moni Aboutboul and Miri Mesika in THE BANDS VISIT Donmar photo Marc Brenner

Review: The Band’s Visit at Donmar Warehouse

“it is the band’s visit ordinariness that makes it extraordinary… a vital piece of theatre”.

“Once, not long ago, a group of musicians came to Israel from Eqypt. You probably didn’t hear about it. It wasn’t very important” says the statement projected on to the back wall, yet this story, based on the film of the same name, is far from unimportant.  With some slight revisions from the Broadway run, Michael Longhurst directs a stunning production.

The band in question is The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, led by the unassuming Tewfiq Zakaria.  They’re headed for the Arab Cultural Centre in Petah Tikvah, but a language barrier issue sees them mistakenly sent to Bet Hatikvah, a small and bleak Israeli town in the middle of a sprawling desert.

With no bus out until the following morning, the band are taken in by the locals for the night, and hands of friendship and understanding are extended in this coming together of Arabs and Israelis.

The irony of watching this show in London is not lost on audiences, as would have been the case in New York, because it cleverly highlights that most people do live outside of the main cities and don’t necessarily have easy access to culture on their doorstep.  “There is no Cultural Centre here, there is no culture” says Dina, and the first musical number, ‘Waiting’ describes perfectly the sense of boredom that can permeate small communities.

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But here something does happen, the arrival of the band at the café that is the centre of town life, demonstrates the similarities between two peoples, as well as the differences.  The band in their smart powder blue uniforms, look out of place against the simple clothing of the inhabitants of Bet Hatikvah.  But whether it’s waiting for a phone call, or looking for companionship, the two groups have more in common than it first appears.

Tewfiq, beautifully portrayed by Alon Moni Aboutboul, strikes up a friendship with the owner of the café, Dina.  Mira Mesika gives a powerful performance in this role, with an incredible vocal performance, particularly in numbers such as ‘Something Different’.  There’s a hinting that something romantic could happen but Tewfiq resists, while Dina hopes that he may be her Omar Sharif.

The music, played mostly on stage by talented actor-musicians, is infused with Middle Eastern charm, and although sounds quite different to probably any other musical in London, it has this gentleness to it that builds to a crescendo in the final two numbers. There’s a truly beautiful song, ‘Itzik’s Lullaby’ performed perfectly by Itzik (Marc Antolin) and Camal (Carlos Mendoza De Hevia) that really sums up the simple elegance of this show.

It is The Band’s Visit ordinariness that makes it extraordinary; it doesn’t follow the typical structure of a musical, and the story is simple but profound.  This is a vital piece of theatre, and the arrival of The Band’s Visit in London is something for us all to hear about it, because it is important.

The Band’s Visit is at Donmar Warehouse until 3rd December 2022.

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Greg Stewart

Greg is an award-winning writer with a huge passion for theatre. He has appeared on stage, as well as having directed several plays in his native Scotland. Greg is the founder and editor of Theatre Weekly

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”The Band’s Visit” musical at Donmar Warehouse – review

This new production also features the most terrific band of such skill and energy that it sweeps you in its embrace. I’d have been happy to listen to their exhilarating mixture of Arabic music, Klezmer and soft jazz all night – and even to get up and dance. But the story their talents are wound around is very slight.

Based on the 2007 Israeli film and with a book by Itamar Moses, it unfolds the confusions that arrive when the stiff Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra find themselves stranded in a nowhere town in Israel having mistaken a B for a P in the travel instructions they have been given. That tiny error means that the Egyptian players in their smart blue uniforms have to spend a night in a desert town where nothing ever happens instead of getting ready to play their concert at the Arab cultural centre.

Their encounters with the baffled locals are nicely played. The essential message of the show – that love and music offer a hope that can overcome most misunderstandings – is smuggled in with wit and some lovely touches of humour. The lyrics are light and witty, the music utterly splendid.

But I found some aspects of the story under-cooked. While the men of the town and of the band have rich backstories, the women – with the exception of warm and welcoming café owner Dina – are mere cyphers. Even she behaves in ways that suit the story-telling rather than reflecting life. And there’s a sogginess underlying the way every life is touched by the surprise visit.

Michael Longhurst directs with an even touch and a sense of joy, letting the narrative breathe while keeping the action tight on Soutra Gilmour’s clever set, with steps at the back for the band to sit on, and a smartly-used revolve. The comic business on the top step where a love-lorn Israeli boy and a harassed Egyptian violinist are both waiting for a vital phone call is a joy.

The performances are equally well judged. Alon Moni Aboutboul brings a grave dignity and a sense of deeply withheld emotion to the band leader Tewfiq, a man weighted by tragedy but who can conjure the magic of music even in silence. As Dina, who takes him out to dinner to discuss her love of Omar Sharif, Miri Mesika is luminous, the richness of her voice matched by an ability to communicate feelings with a blink of the eye or a shrug of the shoulder.

Peter Polycarpou and Sharif Afifi both bring their charcters to vivid life, he as a widowed violinist for whom the band’s visit conjures memories of love sparking on the downbeat, he as an eager trumpeter, who thinks mention of Chet Baker is the perfect chat-up line. The entire ensemble is lively and engaging. But it’s the band and the music that are the star, the qualities that lift this show above the average and turn it into an uplifting evening.

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The Band's Visit (2007)

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‘The Band’s Visit’ review

• Theatre, Musicals
• 4 out of 5 stars
• Recommended

Time Out says

This bittersweet, idiosyncratic musical about a lost Egyptian band gets a gorgeous UK premiere

The original US production of ‘The Band’s Visit’ stormed the 2018 Tony Awards and spent 18 months on Broadway. Which is pretty wild when you consider it’s a barely 90-minute musical with no interval, no dance routines, no power ballads and performed in Arabic, Hebrew and heavily accented English.

I’m sure that production was great. But it feels like the right decision to have David Yazbek and Itamar Moses’s musical effectively start from scratch in the UK, in a new production from the Donmar’s Michael Longhurst that couldn’t be in a more perfect theatre.

It’s adapted from a 2007 Israeli indie film about an Egyptian police band that arrives in Israel to play at the opening of an Arab cultural centre in the city of Petah Tikvah, but accidentally gets a bus to Bet Hatikvah , a fictional one-horse town in the middle of the desert. It has no Arabic cultural centre, or, indeed, hotel – something that becomes a problem when the band realise they’re stranded there overnight.

For a moment, it looks like ‘The Band’s Visit’ will be a sort of Middle Eastern ‘Come from Away’ – an aggressively heartwarming drama about a group of people who randomly end up in a small town and everybody grows and learns something, vom vom vom.

In fact it’s a beautiful, haunting work about loss, loneliness and the desire for human warmth. Though an ensemble production, its headed up by Alon Moni Aboutboul’s stiffly dignified old band leader Tewfiq and Miri Mesika’s restless, unfulfilled local cafe owner Dina. She takes a shine to him and much of their night is spent sat at a local restaurant, making small talk, obliquely flirting and enquiring about each other’s pasts – which they only get into tangentially, with huge revelations kept to a minimum.

The other strands to the story are similarly delicate. There’s the band member who calls the Egyptian embassy from a pay phone jealously guarded by a local lad who has been waiting a month for his girlfriend to ring. There’s Sharif Afifi’s Casanova-ish younger band member Haled, who is desperate for something to do and blithely inveigles his way onto a double date at the town’s roller rink. And there’s the stressed young married locals whose tensions are exacerbated by having clarinettist Simon (Sargon Yelda) stay with them.

All of the stories are marked by a gossamer fragility and a wilful incompleteness, a sense we’re just getting flashes. Yazbek’s songs don’t add razzle dazzle. They offer a delicate magic: exotic instrumentals, hesitant ballads and the odd, sparing bit of witty wordplay. Longhurst’s still yet fluid production feels full of the hush and intimacy of the night – the songs are little bursts of wonder, none of them blowing the roof off, all of them making the air tingle. Soutra Gilmour’s set is minimalist in the extreme, but a nifty little revolve keeps the pace up perfectly when needed. 

Much of the magic is to do with the exceptional casting (big props to casting director Anna Cooper). In an international ensemble of mostly (possibly entirely) Middle Eastern extraction, the band members all really play instruments, with many taking on substantial acting roles too. There’s something ineffably beautiful about the mournful solo trumpets or clarinets that cut through the night air; and then the percussive, rhymic roar of their final ensemble instrumental tune is pure joy, morning sun exploding over the horizon after a long night. 

It’s anchored by Israeli actors Mesika and Aboutboul: her Dina tough, charming, lost; his Tewfiq dignified, wounded, wise. They’re not big flashy roles though: everyone on stage essentially has a small part that they nail, and it feels like the sum is greater than the individual parts, a vivid snapshot of a temporary community. 

Should we make anything of the fact it’s a show about Arabs and Israelis getting on with each other? It certainly doesn’t lay it on very thick: nationality, ethnicity and religion are barely touched upon. Indeed, the wry message that bookends the show – ‘it wasn’t very important’ – is perhaps testimony to the fact the writers are wary of making a Big Statement. 

Instead it’s a romantic, inventive, deeply disarming show about how we’re all defined by the need for connection. Given it was a hit on Broadway, I’m sure it could be a hit on the West End. But I wonder how easy it would be to hold this sprawling and uniquely talented international ensemble together; and, frankly, it’s hard to see how such an intimate show could possibly have the same impact in a big, formal West End playhouse. Catch it before it slips away into the night.

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Donmar Warehouse

Content advisory: the band's visit, the band’s visit.

Music and lyrics by David Yazbek and Book by Itamar Moses

Based on the screenplay by Eran Kolirin

PLEASE NOTE  This production features strong language.

The Band’s Visit contains scenes that some people may find difficult to watch. The themes of these scenes are detailed in the drop-down section below.

Please note, this section contains spoilers.

If you would like more information please email us at  [email protected] .

Themes in The Band's Visit

The Band’s Visit  contains the following themes:

The play contains strong language and references to suicide.

There is smoking on stage.