'The Band's Visit' dances away with a leading 10 Tony Awards
American, grown-up musical based on a 2007 Israeli film of same name outmuscles ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ for most Tony Awards, capturing 10 statuettes, including best musical; ‘The Band’s Visit’ centers on members of an Egyptian police orchestra booked to play a concert at an Israeli city who accidentally end up in the wrong town.
It's based on a 2007 Israeli film of the same name and centers on members of an Egyptian police orchestra booked to play a concert at an Israeli city who accidentally end up in the wrong town. Its embrace of foreign cultures working together found a sweet spot with Tony voters.
"In 'The Band's Visit,' music gives people hope and makes borders disappear," producer Orin Wolf said upon accepting the best new musical crown, saying It offers a message of unity in a world that "more and more seems bent on amplifying our differences."
The Israeli film’s director, Eran Kolirin, who arrived in New York for the award ceremony, told Ynet after the win: “It’s really magic created from the heart. “It’s like being a grandson in your grandchild’s wedding. I feel it’s mine, but this time I’m not worried, I’m just enjoying myself. It’s a different interpretation. It’s alive.”
Tony Shalhoub won as best leading man in a musical for his work on "The Band's Visit," connecting the win to his family's long history of immigration from Lebanon, and the show's Katrina Lenk, who won best actress in a musical, said the production "filled her stupid little heart with so much joy."
"The Band's Visit" also won statuettes for best direction, orchestration, sound design, best book and score, lighting and featured actor Ari'el Stachel, who gave a heartfelt speech about his past.
"For so many years of my life I pretended I was not a Middle Eastern person," he said, addressing his parents in the audience. He thanked the creators of the show "for being courageous for telling a small story about Arabs and Israelis getting along at a time that we need that more than ever."
"For so many years of my life I pretended I was not a Middle Eastern person," he said, addressing his parents in the audience. He thanked the creators of the show "for being courageous for telling a small story about Arabs and Israelis getting along at a time that we need that more than ever."
The show's director, David Cromer, said the musical is also about loneliness and despair, and asked everyone to reach out to anyone for whom "despair is overwhelming."
The two-part spectacle "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" captured six, including best play, book, lighting, sound design, orchestrations and director for John Tiffany, who asked the crowd to sing "Happy Birthday" to his boyfriend. They obliged.
In one of the ceremony's most mesmerizing moments, Melody Herzfeld, the heroic drama teacher who nurtured many of the young people demanding change following the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, was honored from the Tony Award stage.
Herzfeld, the one-woman drama department at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was cheered by the crowd at Radio City Music Hall. Herzfeld saved 65 lives by barricading students into a small classroom closet on Valentine's Day when police say a former student went on a school rampage, killing 17 people.
She then later encouraged many of her pupils to lead the nationwide movement for gun reform. Members of Herzfeld's drama department took the Tony stage to serenade her with "Seasons of Love" from the musical "Rent."
