THEATRE REVIEW: "The Band's Visit" at the Cadillac Palace Theatre (Chicago, IL)

      On September 11th, 2019, I saw a performance of the David Yazbek / Itamar Moses musical "The Band's Visit" at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago, IL.  The National Tour of the musical was in town for two weeks.  The Touring Production had launched that June, and ran until July 31st, 2022.  So as of right now, there are no plans of a second national tour (that I know of) and no plans of a return engagement in Chicago.  

     On the night I saw the show, the production starred Chilina Kennedy, Sasson Gabay, Marc Ginsburg, Ronnie Malley, and Kendal Hartse.  The scenic design was by Scott Pask.  The plot of the musical involves a touring Egyptian police band ending up in a desolate Israeli town--while a middle aged member of the band is working on a concerto.  The residents of the town are aware of their apparent unimportance, and it makes them sad.  In the grand scheme of things, I might be considered unimportant--and I lived in Chicago at the time I saw this show (far from desolate).  I find reassurance that I am important to my cat, so I am scared of him getting sick (for that and more obvious reasons).  Speaking of which, this was the First musical / play I went to see after adopting my cat, Junior.  I think it was also the last show I saw before the governor ordered the statewide lock down and shelter-in-place order due to the coronavirus.  

     "The Band's Visit" was based on Erin Kolirin's screenplay from the 2007 film.  There are a growing number of screen-to-stage musicals over the past several years.  Some of these include "Big Fish," "Kinky Boots," "Shrek,"  "The Addams Family," etc.  I didn't know this, but this touring production was produced by NETWorks Productions--who also produced the 25th Anniversary Tour of "Les Misérables."  Because of that, I wonder how many corners were cut as far as scenic design for the tour (compared to the Broadway production).  Speaking of which, the Broadway Production of "The Band's Visit" won ten Tony Awards in 2018, including the award for Best Musical.  Oddly, that production only ran for about two years.  Or maybe it's odd that the show won all those awards.  I thought it was good, but not that good.

   

     The World Premiere of "The Band's Visit" took place on November 11th, 2016, when the musical had its first preview performance at the Linda Gross Theater, an off-Broadway venue in New York City.  The production officially opened on November 24th, 2016 and ran until January 8th, 2017.  The production then transferred to Broadway.  The first preview performance was on October 7th, 2017, and the Broadway Production of the musical officially opened on November 9th of that year.  "The Band's Visit" performed on Broadway until April 7th, 2019.  That was just two months prior to the National Tour being launched. 

     To be honest, I never thought I would see "The Band's Visit."  I had seen ads for both the tour, as well as the Broadway Production before that.  The ads sort of deterred me from wanting to see the show.  The ads of the smiling lady make it look like she is in the middle of saying "Don't I floss better than Linda Gross?"  At the same time, the image on the flyer for "The Band's Visit" look like she is creating a dust storm that the Egyptian police band is lost in.  It is like she wanted them to get lost and come to the desolate Israeli town, just so she can ask, "Don't I floss better than Linda Gross?"  Yet, once I saw the show, I was pleasantly surprised.  I don't know if I would have paid a full ticket price for it, but it was definitely worth the $30 my dad had to pay.