NEW YORK—So what happens when a group of Arabs unintentionally arrives at a remote Israeli settlement? Can these two different cultures get along? This is the scenario behind the amiable “The Band’s Visit,” a new musical based on the award-winning film of the same name.
With music and lyrics by David Yazbek and a book by Itamar Moses (based on the screenplay by Eran Kolirin), the Atlantic Theater Company tells the story set in 1999 in the Israeli town of Bet Hatikva. In the middle of the desert where nothing seems to happen, the town’s main attraction for locals is to watch the grass grow—or that’s what they would do were there any grass to watch.
The characters provide insights into the human conditions of loneliness and wishful thinking.
