The Band’s Visit - Donmar

BLESS YOU FOR THIS INFORMATION!

With all the positive comments on the show here I was beginning to really regret that I'd have to ditch my ticket - just grabbed the last ticket in Row A of the Circle for the additional matinee on 29 November, so I can fit it into my schedule after all - and with Emma Kingston to boot! (Nothing against the Israeli leading lady, but I LOVE Emma and had HOPED to see her as Dina).

On that note, I now have a single ticket to spare for Monday 28 November, so if anyone is looking for one, let me know - Row C in the Circle at £23 - it's the captioned performance, so ideally I'd like to see the ticket go to someone who'll benefit from the captions, whether deaf/HoH or foreigner for whom captions are a useful crutch.

If you want to write up a separate post for the Noticeboard section, viserys, I'm sure it will be approved without hesitation. 😉

Saw this tonight and thought it was just lovely. I went in to it knowing very little and so the whole thing was a lovely surprise. The musicianship on display is amazing - reading the biographies of some of the performers on the train coming home was fascinating. Marc Antolin and Peter Polycarpou are always good value but it was nice to see - from reading the programme - that for a few of the actors this was their professional debut. The whole company seemed full of joy and I hope they have some good meals out, possibly at Ottolenghi, during the run!

Guessing it's sold out. When I was alerted to the extra performance on Tuesday 28 November a few days ago, there were all of two tickets left - one of which I grabbed. Maybe the seating plan remains visible, so that returns etc. can immediately be shown there?

Saw it on Friday and really enjoyed it. I thought it was quite atmospheric and evoked quite a strong sense of place. Despite not much traditional action it only felt slightly lengthy for a little while about an hour in. As others have said, the songs are not very 'hummable' though Omar Sharif did stick around for me. Interestingly, while I really enjoyed the soundtrack in the moment and even found it quite moving at the end, the existing cast recording doesn't replicate that for me.

Saw this last Friday and completely forgot to post. Took a chance on one of the £10 standing tickets, completely fine. You really don't miss much (although I am very tall) and you can lean on the padded bar. The show flies by as well so you really don't notice the time passing.

As for the show, I liked it. "Nothing happens" isn't true. "Not much happens" is more accurate. But it's more about connection and it's a refreshing change from the mainstream stuff. The music isn't my normal cup of tea but it works in the context of the show ("Omar Sharif" and "Answer Me" are the undeniable standouts). Fans of Emma Kingston should go on her Dina days as she has very little to do in her supporting role. But Miri Mesika as Dina is sublime, captivating, and worth the ticket price alone.

I was looking forward to this, and enjoyed the fact I knew little beyond the basic premise (which I liked a lot). Unfortunately, disappointed by the direction, even before it began. It's a nice idea to have a carousel of luggage twirling pre-show, but those suitcases look so clean - as if newly bought from a shop that day. Okay, police band, they'd be fastidious and ordered - may be okay. Perhaps one of the band will be revealed as the tour organiser, and he bought them all. Restaurant Owner Dina meets them soon enough - busy woman going about her ordinary day, not expecting visitors or any ceremony - but apron pristine clean, not like she works the kitchen. Just little indicators, but a token of the whole production being too clean for me.

The small town is supposed to be sleepy and boring, but surely not sterile - not a sound effect of a dog barking, wind blowing, aeroplane overhead signalling other more exciting lives (matching the theme). Is anywhere really boring, anyway? - familiar, the same day-to-day, but everyone seethes underneath. The writing and production get that, but none of the songs have a directorial idea to open that out into their interior worlds and passions. Even where it's scripted the roller skating is tentative - couldn't he at least be shown to have an illicit outlet at which he excels (while still being useless with girls).

It's all sung well, but under-acted because there aren't enough ideas at play in the direction or subtext. Plus some bad 'almost adlibbing but mouthing silently instead' as if they wish the script gave them more. There are problems there - few of the band seem to have an allotted role; the 'tour admin guy' never does show himself clearly. I guess it's very pure from director Michael Longhurst, to represent boredom/emptiness by plainness and absence, but is life (and particularly interior life) really like that? He seems to demur from what musicals can do when they open out into song.

Miri Mesika was wonderful as Dina though. [She'd make a great Rose in 'Aspects Of Love' - random thought]. A quick look at video of the Broadway production and it looks more 'earthed', with more literal pieces of set; probably more for me.

I saw the original B'way production and this one at the Donmar -- and this one packs far more of an emotional wallop: what was swallowed up in a larger space is here intimate, moving, and beautifully directed. (Only one moment worked better in NYC -- spoiler alert below.) The casting is terrific -- Mesika is a real find -- and since it's an understated text, it's important to read expressions and body language: it's like an independent film, in its way. I wasn't restless for a moment.

SPOILER: Weirdly, the moment I recalled best from NYC--the choral lament "Answer Me"--played better on a proscenium stage because, well, the characters were splayed over a huge space and you could see the real divide between lonely people, and the difficulties of connection. Here, all the characters are on top of each other -- it not only seems possible to answer someone, but massage them as well. I guess that's the only solution for a small space but it's striking how the initial configuration of theatrical space determines the interpretative possibilities of entire, crucial scenes.

Hearing murmurings that this may have a future life...

Does the Donmar still do that daily release for this show? I've been looking on the website quite a bit over the past few days and can't see any sign of last minute seats. Do they disappear immediately?

I saw it yesterday and I found it really lovely. Miri Mesika is excellent and I shed a tear or two for "Answer me".

Saw it for the third time last night and it just keeps getting better. Absolutely gorgeous performances (Miri Mesika is giving one of the most understated, moving performances in recent years - sad that understated doesn't win Oliviers ..)

I really hope the murmurings about a future life are true