I'll admit that I did not arrive at "Bombay Dreams" with high expectations. After all, a friend told me that it was the worst musical that he had ever seen (a spot in theater hell that I reserve for a locally produced "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and any road show of "A Chorus Line)."
On the other hand, I love the "pat the dog, turn the lightbulb" dance from "Bride and Prejudice." Plus, any show with sequins and fast-paced dance numbers tends to make me giggle.
So I entered the 5th Avenue prepared to be entertained if not wowed. And I got what I expected: fast, funny Indian pop tunes, wacky wild dance sequences and more sequins than a Vegas showgirl's headdress.
The plot - and there is a plot - is no "La Bohème" or even "Rent" although it owes a bit to Busby Berkeley.
Poor-but-cute boy Akaash (Sachin Bhatt) meets rich-and-pretty girl Priya (Reshma Shetty). Various barriers to romance spring up, but, natch, everything ends happily with a song and a dance.
Being India and being a musical, the quickest way to fame and fortune for Akaash is to become a Bollywood star, except he is an "untouchable" the lowest of the Indian castes - Bollywood stars are supposed to be high caste types.
Still, with good looks and some fast karate moves, Akaash knows he has what it takes to get out of the Bombay slums where he was born and into the spotlight. And, of course, along the way, he's seduced by fame and fortune into forgetting his true friends until the crucial climatic moment.
Being the 21st century, there's a little gender bending among his true friends from the slums. A lovestruck young eunuch named Sweetie (Aneesh Sheth) acts as the voice of slums and Akaash's conscience. In a 1930s movie, Sweetie would have been a platinum blonde with a cigarette and a tendency to hang off lampposts.
Akaash's dear old grannie (Marie Kelly), who looks after everyone and offers spiritual advice, never gets the musical equivalent of "Climb Every Mountain" but she'd be a Mother Superior in any Western musical.
Also competing for Akaash's young heart is Bollywood superstar Rani (Sandra Allen), a larger-than-life bombshell. Wooing Priya is wicked lawyer fiancé Vikram (Deep Katdare), who turns out to be so nasty that he should have a mustache to twirl in the final act.
And if this doesn't sound much like India to you, then you haven't seen many Bollywood films, those delightful cinematic mishmashs of Western stereotypes spiced with Indian panache. As one character declares, "In Bollywood, all copyright means is the right to copy."
Luckily, all of the cast plays these archtypes of the musical with verve and vivacity of a true Bollywood sensation. Allen probably has the most fun and the most costume changes as the sexy Rani as well as the best wet sari scene ever done for a stage musical, but Sheth has some lovely moments as the "hijra" Sweetie. Bhatt and Shetty have to play their young couple in love mostly straight, with Bhatt getting most of the comedy lines.
Only Katdare has some rough spots with his character, largely due to a script that requires nasty Vikram to come on nice and then morph into a super villain in the final act without much foreshadowing.
As for the hardworking ensemble of dancers and singers who make up the background on all the big scenes, they deserve every round of applause they get.
A.R. Rahman's songs are straight from the real Bollywood. The composer is one of Bollywood's top tunemasters and the big numbers like "Shakalaka Baby" have that bouncing Bollywood sound that bores into your head and won't leave. I heard the chorus of "Shakalaka Baby" being sung all down the street as the opening night crowd left the building.
So, if you like leaving the theater humming bubblegum pop songs with titles like "Chaiya, Chaiya" and you don't demand more from your musicals than boy gets girl, then "Bombay Dreams" is far closer to Broadway heaven than roadshow hell.
"Bombay Dreams" continues through Oct. 1 at the 5th Avenue Theatre downtown. You can now avoid surcharges by a well-known national ticketing monopoly by visiting the 5th's box office or going directly to their website at www.5thavenue.org.
Rosemary Jones writes about arts and entertainment for the Capitol Hill Times. She can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com.
[[In-content Ad]]
