Broadway (with a "b")


You may not know this, but I adore musicals. I cannot act. I cannot sing. But I honestly think that I have the most important role as audience member. Without us theatre aficionados, actors would just be a bunch of crazy people pretending on stage (wait...). Anyways, that being said, I love to go to shows and I love to listen to soundtracks and I spend my fair share of time on broadway.com reading up on the new musicals on Broadway.

This year, the new show that I was hearing so much about was The Band's Visit. Yes, I hear about show openings and all that jazz, but the real reason I knew about this show was perhaps strange for a teenage girl. To understand fully I think I need to go back to when I was maybe five and onward. My parents raised me to watch Monk, a crime show following an OCD detective named Adrian Monk. Monk was played by the brilliant Tony Shalhoub. Enter The Band's Visit. Tony Shalhoub plays the male lead (a general in the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra Band) in this self-proclaimed anti-musical. I now had a chance to meet a childhood legend.

I heard about this in the fall. I thought about this show daily. I listened to the soundtrack and was in love. The lyrics are stunning. Every line sounds so important and beautiful. I have been obsessed with one in particular: "honey in my ears, spice in my mouth." Wow. In this investigatory period I learned what the show was actually about; an Egyptian army band ends up in a small village in Israel by mistake, misinterpreting the city of Petah Tikva with the village of Bet Hatikva (ie with a "b"). They spend one night in the village waiting for the next bus out. The Egyptians and Israelis then connect through music, etc, etc.

Now, months later, I was finally able to make the two hour bus ride to New York City. Unfortunately, my leading man Tony was off filming some TV show, but I felt that this story about people coming together and just being human was too important to miss. And this is my pick for the big Tony winner this year and, being the frugal gal I am, I knew prices would soar after the inevitable Tony wins.

The Barrymore Theatre (also with a "b") was gorgeous. Just what you would imagine--gold gilding and red velvet seating. I was so excited, which is really saying something because I rarely feel genuine, intense excitement. When I am really looking forward to something, I am on the verge of tears and am prone to clasping my hand to my heart like a Southern belle. And wow was I excited to be sitting in the front row (I got a deal) of an original Broadway cast production!

Now you know everything that was building up to this moment. Did the show live up to my expectations? Yes, and then some. This show is breathtaking. It is so simple at its surface, people meet and become unlikely friends, but watching it performed and every little detail creates such a profound, textured story. Arabs were shown as empathetic humans. And Israelis were shown as understanding and accepting. I am enamored. This production drew on a concept that I believe very strongly in: sometimes the smallest of encounters or coincidences create great changes in the people involved, even if it is not always immediately perceptible to an outsider. People help people. Remembering these small acts of kindness and connection are important now more than ever, and I hope that The Band's Visit wins big this Sunday so that this message can be shared to a broader audience.

Oh, and the cast is not only talented, they are kind, too. Being the obsessed fan I am, I stagedoored and met members of an appreciative cast. Then I went a step further, sending fan mail, thanking them for this experience...and maybe asking for a signed Playbill including signatures from the Katrina Lenk, and yes, Tony Shalhoub. In less than two weeks of sending out my effusive letter, I got a response: a Playbill signed from everyone, and yes, Tony Shalhoub.

I cannot recommend
this show enough. It was simple and stripped-down (being an anti-musical and all) but that somehow made it more lavish and real.

Meet me on Broadway,
Christina

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