singing about wishes

the music is so beautiful, it melts away so quickly

[misslaurey]

katrina “the hands that launched a thousand lesbians” lenk (for @lightsoverastoria)

[whiledancing-deactivated2021043]

Katrina Lenk performs “Omar Sharif” on The Tonight Show

[misslaurey]

Katrina Lenk performing “Omar Sharif” on The Tonight Show

[whiledancing-deactivated2021043]

love makes a rhythm…

[misslaurey]

the band’s visit + going ‘round in circles from amélie, a new musical

Just take a look around This café is no place to settle ‘Cause this is the sound of going ‘round in circles This is the site of what might have been This is the circus you run away from This is the boat that’s okay to miss

(insp.)

[augustds]

the 5 stages of grief i went through after seeing TBV’s closing notice

Denial: @christinedwyer sending me a message that said “IM GONNA CRY I WANTED TO SEE TBV SO BAD” and nothing else, and me ignoring it as I try to get ready for class and thinking that it’s just our usual talk of wanting to see shows, despite the fact that @misspoulain planted the thought of them closing in my head weeks ago.

Anger: me furiously texting all my friends about tbv’s closing and making 3 posts about it on here –> “Like I get tbv wanting to close while they’re still at the top of the game to be “elegant” or whatever but they could’ve kept going and not even lose money like other shows that close since everything they’re making rn is profit and upkeep costs. // Playbill literally says they’re still making money even though other shows are suffering the seasonal lull ugh I’m sad.”

Bargaining: “I hope they’re closing so they can focus on bringing it to the Middle East like they said they were gonna do, or another international production like in the West End.”

Depression: Do I even need to clarify LOL

Acceptance: While I don’t particularly agree with closing the show at the moment, especially since it’s getting high grosses and already recouped, I can see why the producers would want to close while the image of the show is still good and not some overextended, half-filled, overplayed musical. Ending right now gives them dignity and is a power move that few producers will ever do (because capitalism LOL). Plus closing the show on broadway will lead the way for licensing of this show in regional and local productions, therefore allowing people who otherwise can’t make it to Broadway (say they live in a town outside of NE USA or internationally) to experience this beautiful show and allow for many up and coming Middle Eastern artists to have a chance at adding this show to their career. 

[americanvandal2017-deactivated2]

young poc (performers of color) WILL inherit broadway, and that is a promise

[doyouhearthesea]

rude

(jk jk ofc im just kidding i respect their decision but thats not gonna stop me bc i cant read)

[where-fading-princesses-live]

About The Band’s Visit

So I’ve seen some people bring up discussion about TBV being an unrealistic, idealistic presentation of Israel, whilst ignoring the conflict with Palestine. The thing is, when you bring politics into the conversation, you’re totally missing the point. TBV is not about politics. It’s about people, and their small stories; it’s about connection and communication, not necessarily across cultural bounds and language barriers, but through music. It’s literally about people coming together through a medium which has no language, hence why it works so well in the musical format. 

Bet Hatikva, the fictional small town in the middle of nowhere of the Negev Desert , is not a sugar-coated, ideal look at Israel. Listen to the lyrics of ‘’Welcome to Nowhere’’ once more. It’s a boring, drab, dull, desert town where literally nothing happens, where the residents want to escape but find themselves trapped for reasons of their own. The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra’s unexpected visit is their little bit of excitement. But notice how the story avoids the cliche theme that the band’s visit is somehow life-changing. The show’s closing line is: ‘’Once, not long ago, a group of musicians came to Israel from Egypt. You probably didn’t hear about it. It wasn’t very important.’’ It’s not that the band had no impact on the townsfolk whatsoever, but the story concerns itself more with attention to detail as opposed to the Big Picture; the author’s intent was more interested in telling small stories instead of a large one. Rather than making lifelong friendships or becoming seriously romantically involved, neither party reaches absolute closure. But they’ve made connections in the present moment; Dina even has a one-night stand with Haled despite her obvious attraction to her kindred spirit, Tewfiq. No one actually falls in love long-term or establishes a lasting relationship; realistically, we know these people will never see each other again. Sean Axmaker on the TCM website writes that ‘’It’s a gently low-key character piece… First-time writer and director Eran Kolirin’’ was ‘’Wary of building a film around some big theme of bridging the divide between the cultures, he kept the stories small and intimate and made a point of avoiding the expected clichés of cultural collision. As Roger Ebert wrote in his review, The Band’s Visit has, by the end, ‘provided something more valuable: An interlude involving two ‘enemies,’ Arabs and Israelis, that shows them both as only ordinary people with ordinary hopes, lives and disappointments.’’’ Their commonality is ‘’loneliness and isolation’’. 

 TBV could have been about politics, but the author opted out of it because it’s nice for a change to see a Middle Eastern story that’s relatively free of problems, that decides not to tell tired stories about tribal conflict. That’s not to say there isn’t emotional and dramatic conflict between characters, but the story tends to be very self-contained in favor over real world issues. There was no need to introduce the complicated political relationship between these two cultures; that doesn’t mean it ignores the problems that persist, but they just wanted to tell a story about people, not politics. That’s why this show is so beautiful, because you can unite all these Middle Eastern audience members from all backgrounds who come see the show, in one single theatre. Broadway needs more musicals like this. They didn’t want to use TBV as an outlet for political debate– it just is what it is: a simple story about finding common ground.       

[misslaurey]

The Band’s Visit One Year Anniversary → Happy Anniversary to the Cast and Crew of The Band’s Visit!

“This portrait of a single night in a tiny Israeli desert town confirms a lyric that arrives, like nearly everything in this remarkable show, on a breath of reluctantly romantic hope: ‘Nothing is as beautiful as something that you don’t expect.‘” - The New York Times

[illaneous]

Tell me, Tewfiq, how does it feel to do music? To have the orchestra? How does it feel to have all the people waiting for you, and all their eyes for you? You know?

[illaneous]

he makes me feel something 

different

[illaneous]

The Band’s Visit One Year Anniversary: Favourite Song (Day 3)

Sunny, thank you for the smile upon your face Sunny, thank you for the gleam that shows its grace You’re my spark of nature’s fire You’re my sweet complete desire Sunny one so true, I love you 

[illaneous]

The Band’s Visit One Year Anniversary: Memories (Day 7)  

“Once not long ago a group of musicians came to Israel from Egypt. You probably didn’t hear about it. It wasn’t very important.”

and shoutout to @oiveyzmir who basically put up with me when i asked them to translate adklfj;akdsljfalkdsj anyways the bottom text is a menu and the writing under the polaroid is “I walked into the sea” lmao catch me crying byeeee I really fucking enjoyed this so much and congrats to tbv’s one year on bway!!!! Thanks so much to @katrinaslenk for doing this i love yall

[illaneous]

i said id refine it but eh here it is

[enthusiasticmusicalfeelings]

reblog and write in the tags 1) the very first musical you ever listened to and loved, 2) the most recent musical you ever listened to and loved, and 3) your all time favorite musical. if any of them are the same that’s ok too

because in this house we don’t discriminate people based on what musical is their favorite 

[augustds]

Are you there? Can you answer me?

lyrics requested by @lesbianfrodobaggins