'The Visitor' announces full Off-Broadway casting, pushes back start date

The musical begins performances at The Public Theater on October 14.

UPDATE: The Visitor has extended its run by one week. The play will now run through December 5.

UPDATE: Ari'el Stachel has departed the production. Ahmad Maksoud will play the role of Tarek.

The world-premiere musical The Visitor has announced its complete cast. Performances begin October 14 at The Public Theater ahead of a November 4 opening night, and the show will run until November 28.

David Hyde Pierce was previously announced to play the lead role of Walter, with Ahmad Maksoud as Tarek, Alysha Deslorieux as Zainab, and Jacqueline Antaramian as Mouna. Other previously confirmed cast members include Robert Ariza, Anthony Chan, Delius Doherty, C.K. Edwards, Will Erat, Sean Ewing, Ahmad Maksoud, Dimitri Joseph Moïse, Takafumi Nikaido, and Paul Pontrelli in the ensemble. Joining the ensemble are Brandon Espinoza, Marla Louissaint, Sahar Milani, and Katie Terza, with Crystal Joy as a swing.

The Visitor is a musical adapted from the 2007 movie of the same name by Thomas McCarthy. Walter, a professor, seeks a renewed purpose in life, and he unexpectedly finds it in the form of two immigrants living in his home. He befriends the couple and gets swept up in their fight to stay in America as it seeks to kick them out. Daniel Sullivan directs the show, which features music by Tom Kitt, lyrics by Brian Yorkey, a book by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Brian Yorkey, and choreography by Lorin Latarro.

The musical was initially set to begin performances October 7 but has pushed the start date back one week. The production has stated that the change was made to allow The Visitor team to more thoughtfully develop the show's themes of race, representation, and identity in response to current cultural conversations around these topics.

The Visitor tickets will be available on New York Theatre Guide soon.

^{Photo credit: Joan Marcus}