Andrew Lloyd Webber launches new Bollywood musical
By Paul Majendie
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/020207/reuters/asia-88396.html
LONDON (Reuters) - Farewell Cats, Hello Bollywood – Andrew Lloyd Webber launched an Indian musical on Thursday that could usher in a new era for the multimillionaire whose blockbusters once ruled the theatre world.
With “Starlight Express” and “Cats” closing in London, Lloyd Webber has turned his eyes to the East in the hunt for a magic formula that could help him relive the glory days when he dominated Broadway and London.
“Bombay Dreams,” taking over the London stage where “Starlight Express” reigned for 18 years, tells the rags-to-riches story of a Bollywood film director’s daughter who falls in love with a poor boy from the slums. Will true love conquer all?
“I have always been fascinated by Bollywood,” Lloyd Webber said. “The fact that so many musical films are produced out of one place intrigues me.”
Speaking to reporters, he confessed that he had fallen for Bollywood, Bombay’s answer to Hollywood.
“There was this huge phenomenon in Asia which I frankly didn’t know much about,” he said.
Lloyd Webber, whose phenomenally successful “Cats” closes in London in May on its 21st birthday, devised “Bombay Dreams” with Shekhar Kapur, director of the Oscar-nominated movie “Elizabeth”.
“We started talking about a project that quite frankly was like an Indian Riverdance, taking Bollywood songs and seeing if we could set it with Indian dancing,” Lloyd Webber said.
For the musical which opens in London on June 19, he picked A.R. Rahman, who has sold 100 million soundtrack albums, to write the score. Comic actress Meera Syal has written the script and Lloyd Webber’s collaborator Don Black has composed the lyrics.
Lloyd Webber is convinced that with Rahman he has found the key to a new trend in theatreland.
“I met somebody that I really, really believe could carry the torch of musical theatre in a completely different direction. As a producer that really thrills me.”
He said of Rahman, who has written the scores for 50 films in an industry that has now captured the imagination of western audiences, that he was “a truly, truly melodic voice”.
Casting for the musical has already provided its first fairytale story, with 21-year-old newcomer Preeya Kalidas picked for one of the leading roles – her first ever outing in London’s West End theatreland.