Even before it got to Broadway, people were predicting that “The Band’s Visit” would win the Tony Award for Best Musical. And, indeed it is this year’s front-runner, but it also qualifies as the answer to one of those choose-the-one-that-doesn’t-belong questions. Because unlike its competitors — “Frozen,” “Mean Girls” and “SpongeBob SquarePants” — this small show, about the members of an Egyptian police band who are taken in by locals when they end up in the wrong Israeli town, was adapted from a relatively unknown film and arrived on Broadway without a built-in fan base or ready-to-sell merch.
Opinion: Small musicals punch above their weight
Even before it got to Broadway, people were predicting that “The Band’s Visit” would win the Tony Award for Best Musical. And, indeed it is this year’s front-runner, but it also qualifies as the answer to one of those choose-the-one-that-doesn’t-belong questions.
Views — BN+ — David Yazbek — Studio 54 — Dear Evan Hansen — SpongeBob SquarePants — Hamilton — Mean Girls — Avenue Q — The Lion King — Atlantic Theater Company — Frozen — Kristen Anderson-Lopez — Bobby Lopez — Powerhouse Theater — Mudd Club — Mamma Mia — Jersey Boys — Fun Home — A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder — Once — Beauty and the Beast — In Transit — New York Stage and Film — Bright Star — Johanna Pfaelzer