To be specific, the Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra, an octet costumed in robin’s-egg blue, visiting Israel for the inauguration of an Arab Culture Center, but taking a wrong turn to a sound-alike destination in the middle of nowhere, spending a night, getting to know the locals and vice versa, bridging a cultural gulf. The blend of comedy and pathos, under the direction of Eran Kolirin, might call to mind the cinematic heyday of Italian humanism, albeit with more of an absurdist deadpan. Only three of the eight band members receive sufficient screen time to become individualized in the least — the priggish leader, his stifled assistant, an unruly rookie — and Sasson Gabai as the first of the three could stand alongside an Alberto Sordi or an Ugo Tognazzi (to place him in the company of comic-pathetic Italians), albeit with more reserve and decorum. Ronit Elkabetz, as his easygoing hostess, makes a lissomely sensuous foil. Imad Jabarin, Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour. (2007) — Duncan Shepherd
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