The American, grown-up musical "The Band's Visit" beat out the acclaimed and sprawling British import "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" for the most Tony Awards on Sunday, marching off with 10 statuettes, including best musical, on a night when the theme of acceptance flowed through the telecast.
"The Band's Visit" is based on a 2007 Israeli film of the same name and centers on members of an Egyptian police orchestra booked to play a concert at an Israeli city who accidentally end up in the wrong town. Its embrace of foreign cultures working together found a sweet spot with Tony voters.
"In 'The Band's Visit,' music gives people hope and makes borders disappear," producer Orin Wolf said upon accepting the best new musical crown, saying it offers a message of unity in a world that "more and more seems bent on amplifying our differences."
Tony Shalhoub, the "Monk" star who won as best leading man in a musical for his work on "The Band's Visit," connected the win to his father's 1920 immigration from Lebanon to New York's Ellis Island at age 8.
"Tonight, I celebrate him and all of those in his family who journeyed before him and with him and after him," he said.
The show's Katrina Lenk, who won best actress in a musical, said the production "filled her stupid little heart with so much joy." She dedicated her award in part to the iconic Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum.
"The Band's Visit" also won statuettes for best direction, orchestration, sound design, best book and score, lighting and featured actor Ari'el Stachel, who gave a heartfelt speech about his past.
"For so many years of my life I pretended I was not a Middle Eastern person," he said Sunday as he collected a Tony best featured actor in a musical for his role of Haled in "The Band's Visit."
His Haled, a ladies man and trumpet player in the story's Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, was his Broadway debut.
In addition to his parents, who glowed in the audience, Stachel thanked the show's creators for courage in "telling a small story about Arabs and Israelis getting along at a time that we need that more than ever."
He added: "I am part of a cast of actors who never believed that they'd be able to portray their own races, and we're doing that."
For their trouble, they've received messages of thanks from young people all over the Middle East in praise of such a "transformative" play.
Stachel's message back? "I want any kid who's watching to know that your biggest obstacle may turn into your purpose."
The show's director, David Cromer, said the musical is also about loneliness and despair and asked everyone to reach out to anyone for whom "despair is overwhelming."
