David Cromer sees ‘everyday heroes’ as the heart and soul of ‘The Band’s Visit’

Tony-winning director David Cromer’s description of “The Band’s Visit,” probably won’t show up in any reviews when the tour hits town this week.

“It’s like a a weed edible,” the 55-year-old Skokie native said. “You’re sitting there taking it in thinking ‘Is this working? Nothing’s happening, nothing’s happening — Whoa. Wham!’ It casts a very measured and compelling show that fully hits you over a period of time.”

Audiences and critics have largely agreed with the sentiment, albeit phrased differently. The musical by composer/lyricist David Yazbek and book-writer Itamar Moses earned 10 Tony Awards in 2018, including best musical, best director for Cromer, best original score for Yazbek and best book for Moses.

Inspired by the 2007 Israeli movie of the same name, the plot skeins around an Egyptian police band that books a concert at an Arab Cultural Center, but is mistakenly routed to a tiny Jewish desert town with no hotels. The culture clashes — and ultimately connections —play out as the band is taken in by locals for the night.

“The emotions are huge, the story is intimate,” says Yazbek. “These aren’t heroic larger-than-life characters. They are everyday heroes. That kind of intimacy, that’s Cromer’s language. He understands it better than any other director I know.”

The last time Cromer directed an Itamar Moses play in Chicago was 2007, when he helmed a low-budget “Celebrity Row” for the (now defunct), roughly 90-seat American Theater Company. He’s working on a far larger scale this time out: “The Band’s Visit” tour opened at a 3,200 seat house in Providence, Rhode Island. For Cromer, the key to maintaining intimacy on stage lies in Russian playwright Anton Chekhov.

Marc J. Franklin

“Good plays don’t have to be about elaborate circumstances or capers of big comedic bits. Chekhov is about the process of getting through the day. And that’s what makes a great play — showing that struggle,” he said. “I want to be sure ‘Band’s Visit’ keeps its delicacy. Even when there’s thousands of seats, we want to give each of person there a private, emotional experience.”

At the heart of “The Band’s Visit,” is the story of two historically antagonistic communities learning that they share a common humanity, Cromer said. “How do you behave when you’re confronted with The Other? That’s what this asks.”

Musically, “The Band’s Visit” is rooted in a wide range of ancient, Far- and Middle-Eastern scales that have little equivalent in western music’s do-ray-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do foundation.

“One of the sounds that is so surprising and different is the use of microtones, notes in between the notes you’d usually hear,” Yazbek said. “It’s like a flavor, like you’re eating something and you taste something wonderful and surprising but that you can’t say what it is.”

Colin Boyle/Sun-Times

For Cromer, taking the musical to the Tonys was something of an endurance test. “You have to be there at eight in the morning to rehearse entire [Tony] show. They announce winners and everything. I didn’t win the rehearsal Tony,” he said. “Anyway, you’re there all day and and then you turn around and have to be back for the red carpet for the real ceremony. I’m not complaining. I’m just saying it’s a really long day.”

It’s also a day Cromer might have struggled with earlier in his career, portions of which he described as “wildly unmoored” and plagued by imposter syndrome. He spent much of that time in Chicago, winning a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2010 and Jeffs Awards for directing “Angels in America” (1998), Writers Theatre’s “The Price” (2002) and the Hypocrites “Our Town” (2008). Cromer also delivered the occasional bomb.

“I wrestled with ‘Rent’ and lost,” he said of the 2012 co-production between About Face Theatre and ATC. Other shows he struggled with: Broadway’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” The 2009 Neil Simon comedy directed by Cromer show closed before it finished previews. A planned follow-up of Simon’s “Broadway Bound” was cancelled.

“When something doesn’t work out, it doesn’t mean you will fail,” Cromer said. “I would tell younger people to not be afraid of making mistakes. It’s good to be fearless. It’s also OK to be terrified and wrong.”

“Obviously my career has accelerated and the money’s definitely different now. But for years, I felt like I was trying to ground things that shouldn’t be grounded, trying to pull birds out of the sky,” Cromer said.

“Cromer’s never about ‘this is my chance to show off the David Cromer style.’ He’s not thinking ‘This’ll get me another Tony,’” said Yazbek. “He’s thinking about how to connect the artists and the audience with the material.”

Catey Sullivan is a local freelance writer.