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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 APRIL 2023 5 THEATRE 'Quietly powerful' musical: The Band's Visit to premiere in Malta this May The Revamp MT production of the 10-time Tony Award-winning musical features a top Maltese cast for its local premiere A critically acclaimed, mul- ti-award-winning musical is soon set to delight audiences at Teatru Manoel for its Malta pre- miere. The brand-new production of The Band's Visit from Revamp MT will offer theatregoers a uniquely different musical thea- tre experience from 6 May. Touted as a "remarkable and boundlessly compassionate and humanistic piece of theatre" by The Chicago Tribune, The Band's Visit opened in 2016 to critical acclaim and a twice-ex- tended sell-out run. It twice broke the all-time box office re- cord a year later when it opened on Broadway, with The New York Times calling the produc- tion "one of the most ravishing musicals you will ever be se- duced by… a Broadway rarity seldom found these days outside of the canon of Stephen Sond- heim: an honest-to-God musical for grown-ups." The Band's Visit has won 10 Tony Awards – including Best Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album. In fact, it remains one of only four musicals in Broadway histo- ry to win the unofficial 'Big Six' Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Ac- tress in a Musical, and Best Di- rection of a Musical. Based on Eran Kolirin's 2007 film of the same name, The Band's Visit is a portrait of one night in a small Israeli desert town. It tells the story of an Egyptian police band, scheduled to perform in Israel but lost due to an error in pronunciation. The group of lost Arab musi- cians and their provincial Israeli hosts move tentatively towards each other, through breaking bread together, sharing secrets, suffering and – most profound of all – their mutual love of mu- sic, whether traditional Middle Eastern ballads or American jazz and Chet Baker. "The Band's Visit appeals to the universal romance and passion people find in music, no matter where they are from," says direc- tor Dorothy Bezzina, who leads the show's cast and creative team alongside musical director Edward Mifsud and production manager Karl Borg. "Its under- stated tone and raw realism make it a quietly powerful piece celebrating how music, longing and laughter can bring people together on a truly human level. Shifting gently between encoun- ters silly, sad and bittersweet – with zero razzle-dazzle or glossy belts – The Band's Visit shows that sometimes it's good to get lost, to explore who you are. This story reminds us that even the briefest visit can stay with you forever." For the Malta premiere, Charles Sammut, Dorothy Bez- zina, Raphael Pace, Sean Borg and Jamie Busuttil Griffin lead a top cast of local performers, bringing to life the musical's sophisticated, non-traditional score by Tony and Drama Desk Award-winner David Yazbek, and the book by Itamar Moses – Tony, New York Drama Crit- ics' Circle, Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle award-winner. To achieve the authentic dialects of the story, the cast is working with esteemed dialect coach Roy Horovitz, from the Israeli Na- tional Theatre. And, in another departure from the typical musi- cal experience, The Band's Visit also features live actor-musi- cians on stage including George Curmi (Puse), Simon Abdilla Joslin, Godfrey Mifsud, Mark Alan Spiteri Stafrace and Mi- chael Camilleri, playing various instruments such as the violin, violoncello, clarinet, saxophone, percussion and oud. The Revamp MT production of The Band's Visit will run for two weekends from 6-14 May 2023 at Teatru Manoel. This pro- duction was made possible by arrangement with Music Thea- tre International, with the sup- port of Arts Council Malta and with the generous sponsorship of official partner, JMV Group. Tickets are available online from www.teatrumanoel.mt, via email to bookings@teatrumanoel.mt, or by telephone on (+356) 2124 6389. For further information visit www.revamp.mt or www. facebook.com/revampmt.