The Band's Visit is a musical about many things, but vitally it is about hope and how when words fail us music has the capacity to maintain within us the endurance necessary to carry on with our lives no matter the circumstances. This is represented in Tewfiq, the leader of the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra. He has lost his son and wife to suicide. His son took his own life because of his lack of relationship with his father and Tewfiq's wife ended her life from the grief of losing her son. In the scene with Dina and Tewfiq at the park we listen as Tewfiq isn't able to say what it's like to sing and conduct with the orchestra but he is able to show her. This represents Tewfiq's inability to connect with someone in the seemingly important way of conversation, but he is quite articulate when it comes to expression through music.
Tewfiq has rejected Dina's romantic advances and eventually leaves Bet Hatikva to play in Petah Tikvah. What this reveals is his belief in being the source of so much pain and death in the lives of those he loves most, and that he chooses not to do that again with Dina. This seems to be the greatest reason for his leaving her.
Similarly, we watch as Itzik sings to his son a lullaby in order to put him to sleep, and this causes frustration in his wife as she feels he has a lack of ambition in his life. She is keeping hope that he will become something more than she is and he remains steadfast in his hope that she will return to who he is: a man who simply desires to love his family. Finally, we see the Telephone Guy posted at the only payphone in town as he waits for his girlfriend to call him. It has been months so far and yet no call. He clings to hope that she will call for him and he holds onto his love for her and his belief that she truly loves him the way he loves her and we hear his passionate yearning in the song Answer Me. The play asserts that we are all waiting for something that will draw us closer to the life we imagined for ourselves, and each character represents the different ways in which we wait for this hope to bear fruit in the form of connection and love.
