In a quartet of memorable films, an acclaimed Israeli director navigates between hope and despair
Eran Kolirin exposes absurdity and nuance within a world of seemingly intractable conflict
The Band’s Visit
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Theater Meet The New Star Of ‘The Band’s Visit’ (Same As The Old Star)
For Sasson Gabay, 71, acting is second nature, not unlike eating, drinking or even breathing. He instinctively observes the people around him, the way they interact and behave. It’s all source material, culled and stored for future roles that he might play. “I look at you, how you speak, the kind of questions you ask,…
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Culture ‘The Band’s Visit’ Sweeps Up Tonys
UPDATED: Based on one of Israel’s most celebrated movies — the multiple Ophir-winning “Bikur HaTizmoret” (“The Band’s Visit,” 2007) by Eran Kolirin — “The Band’s Visit” is this year’s surprise Broadway hit. The musical debuted with Tony Shalhoub (“Monk” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) playing — and singing! — alongside Katrina Lenk (who recently starred…
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Culture ‘Mean Girls,’ ‘SpongeBob SquarePants,’ ‘Angels In America’ Lead Tony Nominations
After a particularly boring season on Broadway, there are few surprises among this season’s nominees for the Tony Awards. “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Mean Girls” predictably mopped up nominations, scoring 12 apiece in a season in which new musicals were scarce. Equally predictably, “Escape to Margaritaville,” the Jimmy Buffet musical, won no Tony love; somewhat more…
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Theater Q&A With ‘The Band’s Visit’ Author Itamar Moses
Based on one of Israel’s most celebrated movies — the multiple Ophir-winning “Bikur HaTizmoret” (“The Band’s Visit,” 2007) by Eran Kolirin — “The Band’s Visit” is this year’s surprise Broadway hit. The musical features Tony Shalhoub (“Monk” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) playing — and singing! — alongside Katrina Lenk (who recently starred in “Indecent”)….
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Culture See ‘The Band’s Visit’ After Exclusive Talkback With Author Itamar Moses
A group of Forward donors will see the new Broadway show that everyone is talking about. On February 25, we’ll have a delicious lunch, executive editor Dan Friedman will lead an exclusive discussion with the play’s author Itamar Moses and then we’ll all go to see “The Band’s Visit” — the best new musical of…
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Culture Next Stop For ‘The Band’s Visit’? Broadway
“The Band’s Visit,” a theatrical adaptation of the 2007 film of the same name, will appear on Broadway this coming fall. The musical, which premiered Off-Broadway last fall at the Atlantic Theater Company, consists of a book by Itamar Moses and music and lyrics by David Yazbek. Following an Egyptian band as it accidentally stumbles…
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Culture Could a Song Save the World? And Other Things That Make Us Go ‘Ugh!’
If everyone in the world were a classical musician, we’d long ago have made peace in the Middle East. That’s a realization I had in the early 2000s, reading in the Times about yet another youth orchestra for Israeli and Palestinian prodigies — or maybe it was a chess program for Jewish and Muslim grandmasters…
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