Picture: Helen Murray
Casting has been announced for the European premiere of the multi-award-winning The Band’s Visit at the Donmar Warehouse this autumn.
The company will be led by award-winning stage and screen actor Alon Moni Aboutboul (Body of Lies, Nina’s Tragedies) and seven-time winner of Israeli Female Singer of the Year Award and talent show judge Miri Mesika (King Solomon and Shalmai the Shoemaker, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Habima Theatre).
They will be joined by Sharif Afifi (My Fair Lady, London Coliseum, The Magician’s Elephant, RSC), Marc Antolin (The Music Man, Chichester Festival Theatre, Matilda, RSC/Cambridge), Harel Glazer (professional UK theatre debut, Maria Friedman & Friends – The Legacy, Menier Chocolate Factory), Levi Goldmeier (Fatherland, Macbeth, Pentecost, Lawrence Hall Theatre), Ido Gonen (Crazy For You, Me and My Girl, London Palladium, The Producers, Cameri Theatre) Michal Horowicz (Amsterdam, Orange Tree Theatre, Gretel and Hansel UK tour), Emma Kingston (Carousel, Kilworth House, Fiddler on the Roof, Chichester Festival Theatre), Shira Kravitz (professional debut), Nitai Levi (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Spring Awakening, Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Yali Topol Margalith (professional stage debut), Ashley Margolis (Bad Jews, Arts Theatre, Oh! What A Lovely War, Lyric Hammersmith), Carlos Mendoza de Hevia (Let Me Play The Lion Too, Barbican Centre, The Party’s Over, UK tour), Peter Polycarpou (City of Angels, Donmar Warehouse, Oklahoma! National Theatre), Maya Kristal Tenenbaum (In The Heights, Starcatcher, Avenue Q, Cinema City) and Sargon Yelda (King Lear, The Old Vic, Mother Courage and Her Children, National Theatre). The on-stage musicians are Jason Alder, Antonio Romero, Idlir Shyti and Baha Yetkin.
Based on the 2007 film of the same name and the screenplay by Eran Kolirin, the musical which features music and lyrics by David Yazbek and a book by Itamar Moses will play the London venue from 24 September until 3 December 2022.
The Donmar’s artistic director Michael Longhurst will direct the production which will be his first musical since his Broadway-transferring hit Caroline, or Change.
Longhurst heads a creative team that also includes musical supervisor Nigel Lilley, designer Soutra Gilmour, lighting designer Anna Watson, sound designer Paul Groothuis, choreography, movement and intimacy director Yarit Dor, casting director Anna Cooper, musical director Tarek Merchant, associate director Orr Benezra-Segal, assistant musical director Natalie Pound, resident assistant director Dadiow Lin, cultural consultant Dr Lina Khatib, and Arabic music consultant Attab Haddad.
Joining the creative team in CATALYST roles are assistant designer Lucy Sneddon, assistant lighting designer Cat Salvini and assistant sound designer Daberechi Ukoha-Kalu. (CATALYST supports the development of talent both on and offstage which is underrepresented both at the Donmar and in the wider industry).
Commenting on the production, Longhurst said: “I am so proud we are assembling this astonishing cast, musicians and creative team, to tell this beautiful story and cannot wait for audiences to discover the power of this Tony-winning musical here in London for the first time.”
Following an award-winning Off-Broadway run, the musical debuted on Broadway in 2017 with a production that was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, winning 10 including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score and performance awards for leads Tony Shalhoub, Katrina Lenk and Ari’el Stachel. A hit with both critics and audiences, the uplifting story of a band of musicians from Egypt and their accidental visit to a small desert town in Israel, the musical also won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater album.
Angela Thomas
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