Actor Ari'el Stachel has spoken many times about the importance of representation onstage and how honored he feels to be able to—as an Israeli-American—bring a Middle Eastern character to the stage in Broadway’s The Band’s Visit. But why does Stachel love playing Haled, the ladies’ man of the titular Egyptian police band, specifically?
“The character itself is just a dude who just so happens to be Egyptian. What I love is I get to use the full range of who I am,” he says in the video above. “It starts a little arrogant and competitive and cocky and by the end we see this selfless, loving guy. I don't have to live in any certain sort of archetype.”
Stachel, who makes his Broadway debut with the show, also shared what it felt like to see his name in a Playbill for the first time. “I took a lot of pictures of it,” he says. “And the first time I had an article on Playbill that was really crazy. That has 50 screenshots somewhere.”
