Bombay Dreams

[Deleted]

Is likely to be coming back in some guise sometime not in the too distant future

So my Asian sisters tell me

Interestingly the Broadway version was supposed to transfer back to London soon after opening there but this was put on hold due to the bad reception the show received in NY

[anita]

Loved it when I saw it in London.

[Deleted]

I doubt it would come back to the West End, maybe a UK Tour? Has it really got that much of an audience? I imagine somewhat that the core fanbase would be the BILB crowd but we all know how that turned out... it would maybe have to do a limited run in a smaller theatre?

[anita]

I am not Asian. Nor have I seen BILB but didn't prevent my enjoyment. - Nor my sons after I recommended it to him.

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2016 10:53:10 GMT danieljohnson14 said:

I doubt it would come back to the West End, maybe a UK Tour? Has it really got that much of an audience? I imagine somewhat that the core fanbase would be the BILB crowd but we all know how that turned out... it would maybe have to do a limited run in a smaller theatre?

I personally thought Bombay Dreams was pants

But despite lukewarm reviews it ran for 2 years at the much bigger and (arguably) prestigious Apollo Victoria at a time when many superior shows suffered the post 9/11 effect and it made back all investments after the 13th month

We have already established crappy shows can come back time and time again

Also I would beg to differ that Bombay Dreams and Bend It are entirely different in aim and focus

And attracted entirely different audiences

To think just because they are "brown" they are similar is quite an error

This is the same error SFP made assuming one would be a success just because the other was


One had ALW backing it and much media coverage an internationally renowned composer and a professional PR machine.
The other (whilst a far better show) was in essence partly a vanity project on the part of the director and was somewhat limited in its scope and professionalism as a result of this.

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2016 11:59:10 GMT @parsley said:

Feb 28, 2016 10:53:10 GMT danieljohnson14 said:

To think just because they are "brown" they are similar is quite an error

This is the same error SFP made assuming one would be a success just because the other was


One had ALW backing it and much media coverage an internationally renowned composer and a professional PR machine.
The other (whilst a far better show) was in essence partly a vanity project on the part of the director and was somewhat limited in its scope and professionalism as a result of this.

Oh I don't think at all that it is because of skin tone, but I am more referring to the style of the music and the dancing etc... I wouldn't put it as a colour by any means, also that could be taken as highly offensive which I am not intending at all.

Do bear in mind also that, lets me honest, ALW has somewhat been box office poison in the past decade... his only real hit of the past decade has been School of Rock, which is selling hugely well (though note his name is not being made very prominent), but Stephen Ward was a huge disaster, as was Whistle Down the Wind, The Woman in White, Love Never Dies etc... the only success has been the TV Shows and the Musicals that followed and even then they are not his shows!

[daniel]

It was looking at a UK Tour a few years back, it had venues pencilled in at one point. Obviously nothing came of it though!

[viserys]

I enjoyed Bombay Dreams back then and I knew very little of Bollywood then. I think global awareness of Bollywood has grown alot since the show first played, so I think there may be a wider audience interested in this kind of live show now.

Though compared to proper Bollywood movies, I thought Bombay Dreams was too low on actual dazzling dance routines and glitz and glamour, so maybe they could work on that. Personally I'd love to see this show again.

[westendcub]

I would welcome a return of this show.

I was quite in awe when I saw all those years ago, the song 'Journey Home' is a favourite of mine.

[orchestrator]

Feb 28, 2016 14:34:43 GMT westendcub said:

I would welcome a return of this show.

I was quite in awe when I saw all those years ago, the song 'Journey Home' is a favourite of mine.

I agree, Journey Home is great. The show was “universalised” for Broadway removing difficult niche words like naan bread and popadum [not exactly those words but you get the idea]. It was also [re-]orchestrated to use the appropriate house minimum number of musicians. The overall effect was much weaker than the London version dramatically and having seen a preview I wasn’t surprised that it didn’t last long on Broadway. There had always been some slightly embarrassing bits in London which could have been improved quite easily but which didn’t stop it being a big success getting many first-timers into a West End theatre.

[Phantom of London]

Didn't see it, hope to make up for my mistake, rumoured on the old board that this was all se to go on the road,a I hope that is still true.

Did ever tour the UK before ?

[oxfordsimon]

There was a lot of lip-syncing going on when I saw the original production. It was also the show where I was threatened with physical violence because I dared to ask someone to stop talking during the action.

Not happy memories!!

[Seriously]

Who introduced the term "brown" into this thread??

[Steffi]

I saw this back in the days. I liked Journey Home but found the show itself average at best. And yes, I remember the lip syncing being really obvious.

[viserys]

But the lipsyncing was intentional, since it's meant to be Bollywood, where the leads always lipsync to singers' tracks...

[anita]

It has some great songs & the original cast were terrific. The lip synch & the stage fighting were intentional.

[Deleted]

This was supposed to tour a good few years ago, I think it was a co production between some of the larger independent regional theatres. Can't remember details now though.

A great fun show, I really enjoyed it and would love to see it come back. Always makes me smile when people complain about lip syncing, it was the whole point

[Steffi]

Shows this is clearly not my kind of musical. ;-) I've never seen a Bollywood film and have no knowledge about the genre. So for me the obvious lip-syncing just looked awful.
It's not what made me not love Bombay Dreams though. I simply couldn't connnect to anything in this show. The only bit I enjoyed was Journey Home. But this place would be boring if we all loved the same things. :-)

[oxfordsimon]

Just because lip-syncing is part of the Bollywood style, it really doesn't play well in theatres. It looks like they cast people who can't sing - and I go to a musical to see singers sing - not mime (even if they are miming to a recording of their own voices)

[wickedgrin]

I saw this at the Apollo Victoria and enjoyed the show. It had a good run in a huge theatre. It just shows how times have changed in that it could not possibly survive such a run now even in a smaller theatre.

[orchestrator]

Mar 1, 2016 1:23:33 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Just because lip-syncing is part of the Bollywood style, it really doesn't play well in theatres. It looks like they cast people who can't sing - and I go to a musical to see singers sing - not mime (even if they are miming to a recording of their own voices)

Whilst for traditional musicals I would completely agree I think it is impossible to set hard-line rules like this. If you don’t know the Bollywood style you aren’t* really going to “get” its presentation on stage but that doesn’t mean a Bollywood musical shouldn’t do Bollywood style.

*Edit: might not get it [thanks to anita]

[anita]

I've never seen a Bollywood musical but I still got it.