Sep 21, 2004 12:12 PM
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(Updated Sep 21, 2004 12:13 PM)
I had gone to Boston in the United States during June/July 2004 to visit my son and family. I along with my companion took a three day trip to New York for sightseeing and above all to see a Broadway musical play. After having gone through the reviews, critic?s rating and the percentage tickets sold of all the plays being staged on Broadway, on the internet, we decided to see ?Bombay Dreams? and promptly booked our tickets on the internet.
Broadway plays are expensive- a ticket on an average costs about $ 80 to 100. We were lucky as we were able to get discounted tickets at $ 62.50 each for orchestra seats which were about 15 rows from the stage. The show was at 8 pm and the duration of the play was 2 hours 35 minutes with a 15 minutes intermission.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, England's mega musical composer/producer, fell in love with A.R. Rahman's music and was inspired to produce ''Bombay Dreams''. Shekhar Kapur and Lloyd Webber co-conceived this production, with Don Black's lyrics and Broadway's Tom Meehan was used to Americanize Meera Sayal's book.
Based on an idea by film maker Shekhar Kapur ?Bombay Dreams? tells the story of a handsome young slum dweller from a slum called ?Paradise?and his dreams of becoming a Bollywood movie star. Akaash (Manu Narayan), the dreamer rises from the depths of the slum and becomes a Bollywood superstar. He gets to become one with the help of Priya (Anisha Nagarajan), an aspiring independent filmmaker planning a movie about her fiancé, Vikram (Deep Katdare), a lawyer who represents Bombay's underprivileged.
Priya helps Akaash get his start by hijacking the entertainment at the Miss India Pageant, where he meets the glamorous film actress Rani (Ayesha Dharker), who insists he co-star in her next film. Akaash rockets to fame, but turns his back on his grandmother Shanti (Madhur Jaffrey), his friends in ?Paradise?, and his promise to make enough money to buy the slum to prevent it from being bulldozed. He soon must decide whether money, fame, and Rani are more attractive to him than his family, friends, and budding relationship with Priya. I will not reveal the ending but I am sure you must have guessed what Akaash decides.
?Bombay Dreams? was premiered in London West End on 19 June 2002 and after doing big business in Britain during its two year run it opened on Broadway on 29 April 2004. There was an effort by the show?s producers to make it bigger and better for Broadway. They spent $14 million to ensure that Bombay Dreams succeeds across the Atlantic.
The revamped extravaganza features new sets and costumes. Musical numbers have been super-sized. The show?s highlight that featured a fountain with 13 hoses in the British version now features 32 hoses. The amount of lip-synching has also been reduced. This production contains only one lip-synched number. Song titles include ''Salaa'm Bombay,'' ''Bollywood,'' ''Love's Never Easy,'' ''Lovely, Lovely Ladies,'' ''Bhangra,'' ''Shakalaka Baby,'' ''I Could Live Here,'' ''Is This Love?,'' ''Famous,'' ''Chaiyya Chaiyya,'' ''How Many Stars?,'' ''Hero,'' ''Ganesh Procession,'' ''The Journey Home'' and ''Wedding Qawali.''
I heartily recommend ?Bombay Dream? which I am sure will be enjoyed and cherished by all.
