Unique shows set to grace Winnipeg stages
Posted April 29, 2025 6:23 pm.
Last Updated April 29, 2025 7:56 pm.
Winnipeg is set to host the multi-award-winning Broadway theatre performance “The Band’s Visit” and CityNews’ Joanne Roberts caught up with performer Omar Alex Khan and Director Dan Petrenko, who are bringing the show to the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre.
Roberts: Omar, for people who are unfamiliar with the show, “The Band’s Visit” what is it about?
Khan: “It’s about a police orchestra from Alexandria, Egypt, who comes to a small town in Israel to play a concert at their Arab culture centre. Unfortunately, they’ve gone to the wrong town, so the good townspeople in the wrong town take them in for the night, they spend some time together, and hopefully, they learn something about themselves, and each other, and maybe they’re changed at the end of the show.”
For audiences here, what are you most excited to be able to show them with this particular version of the show?
“Well, I’m really excited about the music in this show. Not only do we have a crack band, but there’s a lot of traditional Egyptian music, but there’s also western pop music and the songs are beautiful, the lyrics are beautiful. So, as excited as I am to act in this show, I think I’m really excited for people to hear this fantastic music.”
Dan, you’re here from Winnipeg, this show opened just over PassOver. I think it’s a little difficult to forget the division that we think about, especially when we think about the Middle East. But this show in particular, this isn’t just for our Jewish community here is it?
Petrenko: “It’s definitely not just for the Jewish community. Often when we think about the middle east, you’re absolutely right, we think about conflict and war and “The Band’s Visit’ is not that at all.
“It’s about the things that bring us together. The things that build bridges between communities and it really showcases that all of us, no matter which side of a border we were on, we feel pain. We have joys, we share laughter and the thing that really brings us all together is music. So that’s what ‘The Band’s Visit’ is all about. How unlikely strangers can become friends with the healing power of music.”
Tickets for The Band’s Visit are available online.
CityNews also caught up with comedian and actor Julie Nolke, known for her YouTube channel, alongside her appearances in “Run the Burbs” and “What We Do in the Shadows.” She’s in Winnipeg promoting her live, one-woman show called “Dying on the Outside.”
Tell me a little bit more about the show?
Nolke: “It’s a one-woman show, it’s one hour, and it’s similar to the stuff that I make on YouTube. It’s a sketch. Which is me talking to myself. I play all the parts. If you’re a fan of the YouTube channel, you’ll likely be a fan of the show, but if not, it’s not alienating any newcomers.”
Can you tell me about the inspiration and the process of what it takes to put a one-hour show together like this?
“Totally. I mean, it’s vastly different from making YouTube videos. With YouTube, I create an idea, we film it, and I can post it the same week. With this, it took about six months to write the show and I hired a director. I have a tech team. We really wanted it to be a special production so that I can connect with the fans who have supported me for 10 years plus.”
Amazing. So this show is actually coming into Winnipeg really hot. You’ve had sold out shows in Calgary, Vancouver, (and Toronto). What is it that you think audience members resonate with so much that keeps them not only coming, but really selling out all of your shows?
“Oh, that’s a great question. I think people love to laugh and I think the content that I make really rides a fine line of relatability, but also important issues … I had a series go very viral called “Explaining the Pandemic to my past self, where I like to think it gave people permission to laugh during a dark time. I think that’s what my comedy centres around and I think that’s similar to this show as well.”
Tickets are going fast for Nolke’s show, which takes place at the Park Theatre on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
