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In “The Band’s Visit”, Playwright Itamar Moses Helps Strangers Tell the Truth

Posted on: August 20th, 2019 by B.I. C. No Comments

By Mark Blankenship

The company of The Band’s Visit North American Tour. Photo by Matthew Murphy

 

Sometimes, you can only be honest with strangers. “It’s much safer to talk about things with someone you don’t know and will never see again,” says playwright Itamar Moses. “They don’t know the story you’ve built up around yourself.”

That curious freedom shapes The Band’s Visit, the new Broadway musical about a group of Egyptian musicians who get lost on their way to a concert in Israel. Stranded in a small town, they pass the time with the locals, eating at their tables and sleeping in their spare rooms.

To Moses, who wrote the musical’s book, that’s a perfect catalyst for drama. “Everything that happens is only possible because these two groups of people don’t know each other,” he says.

Take Iris, an Israeli wife and mother who finds her own birthday party crashed by musicians her husband brings home. After years of mute frustration with her marriage, she suddenly reveals everything. “The eyes of these strangers on her life make it impossible to ignore what she’s been trying to suppress,” Moses says.

The same is true for characters who confess their dreams, regrets, and loves. Ironically, they may be even more honest with each other because they don’t share a language. The Egyptians speak Arabic and the Israelis speak Hebrew, but when they talk to each other, they use halting, tentative English.

“When you don’t have unlimited language as a tool, you really have to get to the point right away,” Moses says. “People aren’t going to talk around the truth, because they don’t have the words.”

Naturally, the limited vocabulary affected Moses’ playwriting. “But I never lamented it as a limitation,” he says. “I really enjoyed the tension between the simplicity of the language and the depth of the emotion. Sometimes there’s nothing better than having a constraint.”

 

Tony Awards nominees include multiple Chicago connections!

Posted on: May 8th, 2018 by B.I. C. No Comments

Another Tony Awards season is upon us! We are looking forward to celebrating another exciting season of theatre and equally thrilled to highlight all the Chicago connections to this year’s nominees.

Perhaps one of the most anticipated shows this season is The Band’s Visit, which garnered a total of 11 nominations, including best direction of a musical by David Cromer. Before his work on Broadway, Cromer spent a large portion of his career in Chicago helming acclaimed productions of Angels in America Parts I and II at The Journeymen Theatre, The Price at Writers’ Theatre and Rent at American Theater Company.

SpongeBob SquarePants, which made its Pre-Broadway World Premiere in summer of 2016 at the Oriental Theatre, soaked up 12 nominations and is directed by Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Tina Landau. Also hailing from the Steppenwolf stage is Laurie Metcalf, nominated for her performance in Three Tall Women.

Additionally, David Zinn received two nominations for his dual role as both scenic and costume designer for the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom in SpongeBob SquarePants. And of course, a special shout out to the variety of artists who took home a best original score nomination for SpongeBob SquarePants including: Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles (a previous Best Score nominee for the upcoming Waitress the Musical), Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper (a previous Best Score Tony Award winner for Kinky Boots, which also originated in Chicago) & Rob Hyman, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Domani & Lil’C.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child cast its spell over the Tony Awards and earned a total of 10 nominations including Best Play. This production features several Chicago actors including Alex Weisman, Jessie Fisher, Nathan Salstone and James Romney. Weisman, a Northwestern graduate, and Romney, a graduate of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College for Performing Arts, and Salstone, the 2012 IHSMTA Best Actor winner, all made their Broadway debuts, while Fisher previously appeared on Broadway in Once and is a native of Highland Park.

Tina Fey, who got her start at Second City in Chicago, was nominated for best book of a musical for Mean Girls and Fey’s husband, former Second City musician Jeff Richmond, was nominated for best score with his co-writer Nell Benjamin. Two-time Tony winner Gregg Barnes is also nominated for his costume design work in Mean Girls. Gregg’s costume creations have been seen by Chicagoans in Disney’s Aladdin and most recently on stage at the Oriental Theatre in Pretty Woman: The Musical.

Jessie Mueller, an Evanston native and a veteran to the Chicago stage, was nominated for her leading performance as Julie in Carousel, alongside Joshua Henry, who played opposite her as Billy Bigelow. Henry appeared most recently with Broadway In Chicago as Aaron Burr in the original Chicago cast of Hamilton.

On the design front; Academy and Tony Award-winner Ann Roth is nominated for her costume design in Three Tall Women. Ann’s designs brought Mormon to the minds of Chicagoans in 2012 and will sure do the same when The Book of Mormon says “Hello” again in November.

We are also thrilled that members of the creative team for the upcoming The Cher Show have rounded up several nominations as well. Kevin Adams (Nominated for lighting design of a musical – SpongeBob SquarePants), Christopher Gattelli (Nominated for choreography – SpongeBob SquarePants) and Christine Jones (Nominated for scenic design – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) all come together this June when The Cher Show has its Pre-Broadway Premiere at the Oriental Theatre June 12 – July 15.

Tune in to the 72nd annual Tony Awards hosted by CBS on Sunday, June 10, 2018 beginning at 7 p.m. CT!