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BOMBAY DREAMS. Music by A. R. Rahman. Book by Mecra Syal and Thomas Meehan. Choreography by Anthony Van Laast and Farah Khan. Directed by Stephen Pimlott. The Broadway Theatre, New York City. 4 April 2004.
Cultural appropriations invoking constructs of "Asia" and East-West encounters in Broadway's musicals are hardly new-there is a long tradition of simplifying, modifying, and Broadway-ifying stories placed in Asia to make them danceable, singable, and accessible to New York theatregoers. The current foray into South Asia, in the Broadway Theater production of Bombay Dreams, the musical produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, maintains certain Hollywood song-and-dance conventions with theatrical innovations of American-style music and cultural references. With a newly adapted version of the book which takes into account an American audience, by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan, and the haunting music of superstar A. R. Rahman, this production aims to target the average American viewer with its glamorous glitz and indulgence in classic rags-to-riches, never-forget-your-roots storytelling.
Out of the poor sections of Bombay emerges Akaash (Manu Narayan), the hero of this feelgood/love story/Bollywoodesque musical. An inhabitant of the poorest section of town, the Paradise Slum, he and his friends and family, including a tough hijra, Sweetie (Sriram Ganesan) and Akaash's grandmother Shanti (Madhur Jaffrey), receive news that their community will be raxed to make way for new urban development. Presented as a city of sleaze and corruption, Bombay is advertised as a place where dreams are sought after in the massive Bollywood film industry and,...