The Band’s Visit - Donmar

You have sold me after mentioning Amélie!

I loved this, for its poetic beauty, for its fish-out-of-water comedy, for it's gorgeous plaintive melodies, for Ashley Margolis's big number, for Mark Antolin's gentle brightness, for Sargon Yelda's subtle expressiveness and for Miri Mesika's passionate singing, but nonetheless, this musical overall is so cruelly tantric and withholding that it could never be my favourite musical lol!

Some spoilers follow. . .

The thing about the movie is that you are free to take so much out of it: you can appreciate it's about life's quiet desperation, per Thoreau, where ships pass in the night and disappointment fills every glass; or you can laugh it up at the fish-out-water comedy; or you can appreciate how much it validates the small things in life, how important connections are and so forth, how usefully music greases the wheels of connection.

But the musical adds a layer of directorial commentary that massively emphasises the quiet desperation of it all, tantrically withholding all life's pleasures.

For example, take the song "Omar Sharif," the most wistful Regina Spektor song not written by Regina Spektor: it sings the praises of "Umm Kulthum and Omar Sharif," with Umm Kulthum being the most melodramatic and climaxy singer ever, as in every verse is a climax, and those Sharif movies being as lurid and romantic as heck, but Yasbek resolutely refuses to let US share in the melodramatic and romantic and passionate internal lives of the characters.

It is as if the melancholy is all, and the internal roiling sea of passion, that allows these amazing characters to survive their melancholy, is sidelined.

That makes for a focused artistic vision, and boy are there wistful pleasures here, not least, the songs, "Omar Sharif" and the amazing closing Telephone Guy song!

But, for me, denied actual access to the Umm Kulthum inside these desperate characters, I found myself crying for them and humanity in Brechtian distance instead of sharing their inner awesomeness and truly connecting with them.

For that reason, I especially appreciated the immense gentle positive aura that Marc Antolin brings to his long-suffering Itzik; I appreciated the comic irony with which Sargon Yelda's wide-eyed snide rebuts all the suffering; I appreciated Harel Glazer's Papi's clowning; I appreciated the multiple-meaning mastery with which Alon Aboutbol lays down the line about it being "too late" for him lol; and I appreciated the earthy passionate force of Miri Mesika's singing.

I did not appreciate Yasbek denying me the opportunity to share the characters' passionate delusions.

Four stars from me.

You growl for yourself, BurlyBeaR. I know every opening of every show. I would have written a song about it, but Cole Porter beat me to it. 😀

Yes, a friend was there last night and they've finally got programmes

Does this show have much of a plot? Or is it one of those "situational" musicals?

I don't mind it personally because some people need a synopsis, they can't go in totally blind. 

Thanks for confirming!

No, I'm not suggesting that. I'm saying that not everyone wants to know, and it's annoying and pretty inconsiderate when people spoil things for those that don't.

Trying to avoid these things is actually a lot harder than you'd think. I remember having avoided all pre-publicity for E.T., the night before I was due to see it in 1982, BBC Radio news featured some vox pop of people coming out of the first screening with someone saying

Thank goodness for spoiler tags on here!

I got really annoyed at the reviewers who said nothing happened, which just isn't true.

Also, WOS giving this 3 stars, and also giving Millenials 3 stars is hysterical...borderline embarrassing

No she isn't I grant you, but there were certainly reviews I read that were. Fair point I guess

In spite of a very distracting audience this afternoon (a phone to start, lots of things being dropped and banging about, and someone brought a kid of maybe 12 who clearly was not into it and wasn't afraid to let everyone know that fact - he kept rustling a paper bag, talking, sighing loudly, and they left about an hour in just when Something Different was reaching its peak) this really moved me. I loved it just as much as I remember loving the film a few years ago (one of the few times a more subtle comedy has been adapted as a stage musical and not ended up super broad and over-played). Great music, singing and acting and it made me laugh a lot and cry a lot which is all I wanted out of the experience so I am more than satisfied.