Backstage with Mike Cefalo

As Houston welcomes the touring production of The Band’s Visit as part of Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center, I was fortunate enough to catch up with one of the cast members, Mike Cefalo, for the inside scoop and to get his perspective on this award-winning musical.

To bring you up to speed, The Band’s Visit tells the of what happens when an Egyptian Police Band is sent to a remote village off the beaten path in the middle of the Israeli desert after a mixup at the border. With no bus until morning and no hotel in sight, these forlorn travelers are taken in by the locals and ultimately comes down to a story about longing, and how people are connected by their shared love language of music.

The company of The Band's Visit North American Tour. Photo by Evan Zimmerman

Cefalo is, in his own way, a traveler in an unfamiliar land. Having grown up in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he went to Berea, Ohio to attend Baldwin Wallace University for music theatre. Following his collegiate adventures, Cefalo moved to New York, and was a working actor for about two years before landing his role with The Band’s Visit. Now, his talents have taken him on his first tour, and he’s come straight to the Lone Star State. 

“This is my first time on the road with an actual tour,” he exclaimed. “We’re just about at our six month mark right now and I love it. The tour is really fun and really interesting and a great show to bring around to audiences across the country. I would say that 90% of these stops I’ve never been to so I mean in addition to like doing my dream job in a show that I love so much every single day, I’m getting to explore parts of the country that I never thought I was going to be in and getting to eat so many cool local cuisines everywhere I go and experiencing cultural things everywhere I go — so it’s a whole whirlwind of a thing. I love it.”

In The Band’s Visit, Cefalo takes up the role of Telephone Guy, a forlorn local who questions his devotion to his lover as he continues to wait by the pay phone to hear her voice.

Mike Cefalo. Photo by Matthew Murphy

“So I play Telephone Guy, who is one of the more oddball characters in the show,” Cefalo said. “He’s definitely the weirdest guy in town. He, and the entire show, is waiting at the only payphone in town and he’s been waiting there for about a month for his girlfriend to call him. People pass by occasionally asking and checking up on how he’s doing and audiences will see what happens at the end of the show.”

Although Ceflao is no stranger to the stage — having been in previous productions of Newsies, Next To Normal, and Singin’ in the Rain to name a few — he did need some time to adjust to the dynamics of this show in particular. Rather than preparing for runs, spins and jumps accompanied by grandiose scores, the cast had to learn to embrace the silence first.

“I would say that the biggest challenge was just the beginning of the rehearsal process,” Cefalo explained. “Allowing ourselves — and this will become more clear when you see the show — but allowing yourself to feel super uncomfortable and awkward in these silences sometimes. It was our director giving us the freedom to play and just love ourselves and feel awkward, which is a big part of the performance that moves the show — kind of sitting, stewing in like uncomfortableness and then having to problem solve your way to communicate what you mean and what you’re doing. We worked very hard for the aesthetic that the show is; it’s not small but it’s subtle and it’s definitely purposeful. And in the show some people could say that nothing happens, but it’s the kind of show — there’s a lot of silences and a lot of miscommunications and struggling to understand each other as it’s told in three languages, it’s through Hebrew, Arabic, and they communicate through broken English. So even though it’s from an acting standpoint, our director David Cromer definitely gave us a lot of time to just be able to stand there on stage and process what’s going on without needing to rush to make a decision or rush to do something off stage. It takes us time and it never feels too long in doing so, but it definitely adds this heightened level of intimacy and sometimes awkwardness that really works.”

The company of The Band's Visit North American Tour. Photo by Matthew Murphy

The Band’s Visit is unlike the Broadway so many people have come to know and love in that there aren’t any massive song-and-dance numbers. This show, instead, brings forth a more intimate and personal show with elements that audiences can relate to more easily. 

“I think that there’s definitely something that every person is going to connect with in the show,” he continued. “There are so many universal human beings, whether it’s struggling or on a first date or navigating through a failing marriage or grieving the loss of a loved one or just trying to make new friends in a new place. And it’s this kind of universal thing which the show always comes back to which is everybody’s kind of shared humanity for music. And I think that what’s special about the show, is that it’s not about these big, wild scenes that a lot of big razzle-dazzle Broadway musicals have. It’s about things that are kind of overlooked in everyday life and that’s what makes these small things so so so beautiful and amazing to connect to. “

The Band’s Visit will be on stage at The Hobby Center from January 28 to February 2.

WHO: Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center
WHAT: The Band’s Visit
WHEN: January 28 – February 2, 2020
Tue – Thurs at 7:30 pm | Fri at 8 pm | Sat at 2 & 8 pm | Sun at 2 & 7:30 pm
WHERE: The Hobby Center | 800 Bagby | Houston, TX 77002
TICKETS: Start at $35 and are available at TheHobbyCenter.org or BroadwayAtTheHobbyCenter.com