Casting and Dates Announced for Bombay Dreams Tour

By: Feb. 06, 2006
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Casting, as well as dates and venues, has been set for the international tour of the extravagant musical Bombay Dreams.

The tour will star Sachin Bhatt (European/Asian tour of West Side Story) as Bollywood star wannabe Akaash and Sandra Allen (Flower Drum Song, Sunset Boulevard) as glamorous movie goddess Rani, with whom Akaash falls in love. The tour will also feature Reshma Shetty (The Secret Garden concert) as Priya, Deep Katdare (original Broadway cast of Bombay Dreams) as Vikram, Aneesh Sheth as Sweetie, Suresh John (original Broadway cast of Bombay Dreams) as Madan and Christine Toy Johnson (The Music Man, Grease) as Kitty DeSousa.

Enrique Acevedo, Tia Altinay, Nita Baxani, Shane Bland, Wendy Calio, Sujana Chand, Tiffany Michelle Cooper, Aaron Coulson, Diane Angela Fong, Monica Kapoor, Namita Kapoor, Stephanie Crain Klemmons, Jeremy Leiner, Garrick Macatangay, Kenneth Maharaj, Anil Margsahayam, Skie Ocasio, Desmond Osborne, Christopher Quiban, Kristian Richards, Rommy Sandhu and Marie Kelly will be featured in the ensemble.

The musical, which incorporated the pulsing sounds and colorful visuals of Bollywood films into its story, will launch its tour on February 21st, 2006, in Cosa Mesa, CA (after playing an out-of-town tryout in Tucson, AZ). The show, which will also feature choreography by Lisa Stevens, musical direction by Kevin Farrell and sets by Ken Foy; the costumes are from the Broadway production. The tour will be a co-production with members of the Independent Presenters Network (which includes a number of theatres in the US and Canada), Atlanta's Theater of the Stars and Bucephalus Touring LLC.

A hit in London (where it opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in 2002 and closed in 2004), Bombay Dreams opened at the Broadway Theatre on April 29th, 2004 and ran for 30 previews and 284 regular performances. With music by A R Rahman and Don Black, the lavish show was based on an idea by Shekhur Kapur and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was the musical's original producer. Meera Syal penned the book and Tony Award-winner Thomas Meehan (The Producers, Hairspray) is adapting a new book based on the Broadway and London scripts. The tour will feature a combination of music from the original London version and from the Broadway production.

Bombay Dreams' score includes "Salaa'm Bombay," "Bollywood," "I Could Live Here," "Is This Love?," "Famous," "Chaiyya Chaiyya," "How Many Stars?," and "Shakalaka Baby," which was danced around a spectacular onstage fountain on Broadway. The fountain will be featured in the tour, for which a schedule follows:

Feb. 21-March 5--the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA
March 10-12--the Broadway Theatre League in Huntsville, AL
March 14-19--the Palace Theatre in Columbus, OH
March 21-April 2--the Playhouse Square Center in Cleveland, OH
April 4-16--the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, MO
April 18-23--the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL
May 9-21--the Sacramento Community Center Theater in Sacramento, CA
May 23-June 4--the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston, TX
June 6-18--Dallas Summer Musicals in Dallas, TX
July 11-23--the Buell Theatre in Denver, CO
July 25-30--the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC
Aug. 1-6--the Pittsburgh CLO in Pittsburgh, PA
Aug. 8-13--the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA
Aug. 15-20--the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada
Sept. 12-Oct. 1--the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, WA
 
Baayork Lee originated the role of Connie in A Chorus Line; she will also recreate Michael Bennett's choreography for the landmark musical's 2006 revival. Other performing credits include Seesaw, Promises, Promises, Henry, Sweet Henry, Golden Boy, Mr. President, and Flower Drum Song; Lee also served as the associate choreographer of My One and Only.




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