If you saw the 2007 film The Visitor—an unassuming gem written and directed by Tom McCarthy (after The Station Agent but before Spotlight)—you likely remember a few things: Richard Jenkins as the widower Walter Vale, a jaded college professor sleepwalking through life; Danai Gurira as the distrustful Zainab, who Walter is very surprised to find living in his apartment with her drummer boyfriend, Tarek; the lushness of Central Park, where Tarek takes newly minted music lover Walter; the utter desolation of the detention center in Queens, where the undocumented Syrian-born Tarek is taken.
If you see the Public Theater’s musicalization of The Visitor—with a score by Next to Normal’s Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, and a book by Yorkey and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of London’s Young Vic Theatre—regrettably, it’s just not that memorable.
The show sticks very close to the movie, but clocks in at just 90 minutes—so the action is pretty swift. Basically, right after world-weary U Conn economics professor Walter (David Hyde Pierce, in fine form) arrives at his empty-for-decades NYC apartment and sees that Tarek (Ahmad Maksoud) and Zainab (Alysha Deslorieux) have taken up residence there, he gets a quickie lesson from Tarek; soon, Walter is playing the djembe like a pro—well, less like a stiff econ prof, anyway—and is comfortable enough to go to a drum circle in Central Park.
[Read Frank Scheck’s ★★★☆☆ review here.]
Now, you’re probably asking yourselves, Why does this man instantly allow two total strangers to stay in his apartment with him? Well, because that’s how it happens in the movie. But here, first, there’s a musical number, “Zainab’s Apology,” with a lilting melody and surprisingly cringey lyrics: “We’re quite good at knowing how to disappear/ We both know how to flee in fear”… “I apologize, I do—/ for what we’ve put you through.” And while we’re on the subject of cringey lyrics, let’s discuss Tarek’s “World Between Two Worlds,” which he sings when Walter is visiting him in detention: “I’m terrified, I can’t pretend/ But you’ve been such a faithful friend/ We’ll see this through, until the end.” (The lyrics are credited to Yorkey, whose bio, curiously, is missing from the program.)
The musical’s creators were very smart to beef up the Tarek and Zainab roles. The film was seen very much through Walter’s eyes—hence Jenkins’ (well-deserved) leading actor Oscar nomination. But the stage version takes a broader view. We hear Zainab’s story about her hellish journey from Senegal in “Zainab’s Song (Bound for America).” Zainab sings a plucky duet, “Lady Liberty,” with Tarek’s mother, Mouna (a delightful Jacqueline Antaramian). Tarek is given a lovely, if repetitive, ballad, “Heart in Your Hands.” And Tarek and Zainab actually have the best song, the absolutely shattering “My Love Is Free.”
And since the world has evolved since 2007, in this version of The Visitor Walter does acknowledge his ignorance and privilege in the proverbial 11 o’clock number, “Better Angels”: “It’s such a poor, pathetic sight:/ One old white man, one errant knight,/ Awakened to this world at last.”
It’s easy to write off The Visitor as a white savior story. (Though technically, no one is saved; considering that we’re talking about 14-year-old movie source material, it’s not a spoiler to say there are no happy endings for anyone.) Beyond that, considering the team involved—including director Daniel Sullivan—it’s simply a letdown.
The Visitor opened November 4, 2021, at the Public Theater and runs through December 5. Tickets and information: publictheater.org
