Authentic Bollywood Musical THE MERCHANTS OF BOLLYWOOD Makes American Premiere at the New York City Center, Oct. 2010

The authentic Bollywood musical THE MERCHANTS OF BOLLYWOOD will make its US premiere at the New York City Center later this year the New York Times is reporting. The musical began its international tour in 2005, but US investors did not believe the show would garner enough interest in audiences. After the success of the film "Slumdog Millionaire" and the new found interest in all things Bollywood, producers gave the tour the go-ahead. Following a two-week run in Toronto, the show will make its way to the City Center for a two-week run in October, 2010, before embarking on a national tour.

Says Producer Mark Brady "It's taken us a long time to get there. Our American partners were always curious and interested in the show, but they weren't convinced four years ago. ‘Slumdog' certainly changed that a lot, and I think India also changed this. It keeps on growing and the interest in the country is also growing."

To read the full article from the Times, click here.

The story of THE MERCHANTS OF BOLLYWOOD loosely follows the story of the Merchant dynasty. The family has been prominent in the Hindi film scene since the 1920s. Member of the Merchant family, Vaibhavi Merchant choreographs the musical.

"As producers we're always interested in interesting cultural products and India for us had all the right ingredients to produce a unique show," Brady was quoted as saying to the Times. "It's an ancient culture with a diverse population, incredible music, great colors. Plus this giant film industry, which has been flying stealth for quite a long time. We also thought there was a huge undercurrent of interest in India that was going to break through. At the time, India was rising economically, not only with trade but also as a tourism destination."

Merchant wanted to emphasize the difficult and rigorous discipline that is classical Hindi dance. "We have seven forms of classical dancing in India and each one has its set patterns in terms of body movements. What binds them all together is that they deal with a lot of lines that take years of training to master."