From a musical play with a cast and crew of 400 to a play that has Lucknowi qawwals replacing the pit orchestra, Mumbai theatre has seen nearly half a dozen 'musicals' make their debut in the last year. The most wanted actors now are those who can hum a tune
From a musical play with a cast and crew of 400 to a play that has Lucknowi qawwals replacing the pit orchestra, Mumbai theatre has seen nearly half a dozen 'musicals' make their debut in the last year. The most wanted actors now are those who can hum a tune
Actor-director Chandan Roy Sanyal has one question that often rolls off his lips if he spots talent these days -- "Can you sing?" 
Aaj Rang Hai, a Hindi production starring Amjad Khan's daughter Ahlam
Khan, has travelled to Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Jaipur, Delhi and
Trichur in addition to enjoying a Mumbai run. Based on the work of 13th
century Indo-Persian poet from Delhi Amir Khusrau, this play's protagonist
is a baithak singer. A group of qawwals from Lucknow shareu00a0 the stage
with the actors. PIC/SAYED SAMEER ABEDI
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The reporter noticed this poster pinned on Prithvi Theatre's notice board recently
Having managed to bag a bunch of dates at Juhu's Prithvi Theatre in September, he is readying himself for a comeback of Chugaddham Sym-phoney (it had a run in 2009). But some of the cast needs to be replaced, hence the question. Strangely, the venue of his comeback production is also the seat of the same question -- a black-and-white poster attracting attention due to a lack of colour and large typography is pinned on the notice board near the caf ufffd. A certain Mr Merwyn from K-Entertainment is also on the lookout for actors who can hum a tune.
In the last 10 months, at least six musicals and music-inspired performances have premiered in Mumbai.
Veteran actor Dalip Tahil, last seen on West End in Andrew LLoyd Webber's Bombay Dreams, returned to the city as Georg von Trapp in Raell Padamsee's Sound Of Music.
Merlyn DeSouza, Mumbai's own musical specialist, and actor-producer Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal with son Kaizad Kotwal of Poor Box Productions created a series of musical-inspired shows for Blue Frog and The Comedy Store respectively.
Young actor-singer-dancer Delna Mody opened the premiere of Life Through The Songs We Like at the National Centre for Performing Arts' Centrestage Theatre Festival last November.
In the same 10-day festival, Aaj Rang Hai, a collaboration with T-Pot Productions & Aarambh had qawwals from Lucknow share stage with actors Trishla Patel and Ahlam Khan.
Making a comeback?
Bollywood's strong tradition of weaving song-and-story makes sure audiences don't have to develop a taste of musically-driven stage performances. In fact, the 1980s were marked by theatre veterans Alyque Padamsee, Pearl Padamsee and Hosi Vasunia dishing out successful musicals like Man of La Mancha, Evita, Godspell, The Wiz, My Fair Lady and Sound of Music.
Even film and theatre actor-director Naseeruddin Shah attempted a musical version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
By the end of the 1990s, musicals lost steam, with stray instances marking the city's theatre calendar. In 2007, Prithvi hosted Mumbai Musicals, a festival featuring musicals by local groups. In 2008, Ramu Ramanathan's Jazz saw actor Bugs Bhargava bag the best actor award at Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards.
Producer Raell Padamsee says the reason behind the resurgence is a return to variety. "Theatre is in a vibrant state at the moment with different sorts of formats finding space, so musicals were expected to make a comeback too."
Interestingly, Merlyn DeSouza puts it down to a reverse drain of talent. Talented performers who had gone West to train in drama or pursue academics at foreign universities have returned. Mody herself returned from Toronto in 2008 where she was pursuing a BA in Music Theatre from Sheridan College. "There's tremendous demand for musicals because it's a complete entertainment package. Serials like Glee have lent a cool factor to the genre," she says.
But it's not easy
What's interesting is that even as producers, directors, playwrights and actors agree that working on a musical is nothing short of excruciating, song-and-dance productions occupy a comfortable space in the city's theatre scene. Padamsee who is back to managing logistics for her Sound Of Music, that will be staged at St Andrew's Auditorium this week, says,u00a0 says, "Musicals have always had an appeal. The only problem has been the difficulty in mounting lavish sets, costumes, organising music and choreography. The toughest bit is to get everybody ready for the show. You have to take care of clothes, hair, make-up, mics. It's a logistical nightmare."
And working on an authentic musical is not everyone's ball game, either. DeSouza and Asif Ali Beg created the Broadway Night show for Blue Frog, while Poor Box Productions conceived a Valentine's Day special for The Comedy Store. Both productions strung together songs from Broadway musicals, and a bit of Frank Sinatra and ABBA to create a show that wasn't quite a musical.
"Authentic musicals are hard to do simply because they are very expensive. You need a huge cast and a lot of rehearsal time. Also, because nobody does musicals anymore, it is difficult to get people who can sing, dance and act, and give you committed rehearsal time. That's a long winding way of saying it's easier to do a musical without actually doing a musical, because of the challenges it poses," explains Kaizaad Kotwal.
Even Mody's original musicals are based on a storyline that the young artiste creates herself. But they feature songs from Broadway or West End. Mody insists, however, that she tries to introduce her audience to lesser-known but meaningful songs. "The audience enjoys standard songs. But I pick songs from a whole gamut that they may not have heard."
Finding talent
The biggest hitch of course, which explains the mushrooming 'Wanted' posters, is a dearth of talent. "To put up a musical, you need the right talent pool of those who can sing, dance and act. But why would those actors, who would get opportunities to work in films or television, do theatre?" wonders Purva Naresh, writer and co-director of Aaj Rang Hai.
Unlike in the West, where universities and drama colleges offer specific programmes to train talent in acting, singing and dancing, most acting schools here tend to churn out Bollywood wannabes. Few exceptions exist -- the National School of Drama in New Delhi is among a handful of university-run acting courses that still produce theatre actors.
"Skill, talent-spotting and a sense of where music is heading is not as strong as it was 20 years ago," says Ramanathan.
Two decades ago, there was Pearl Padamsee, whose three versions of Godspell saw a cross-section of generations work together.
"Everybody who was anybody was in her plays -- from Victor Banerjee, Dalip Tahil, Vickrum Krishna to Cyrus Broacha, Bugs Bharagava and Shweta Shetty," says daughter Raell.
How about some originality?
The buzz around musicals also brings the issue of originality into focus. Adapting and recreating a hit musical reduces the risk since nostalgia acts as a safety harness.
And when a large amount of money is at stake (even Aaj Rang Hai was made at a budget of Rs 3 lakh), producers shy away from backing an original production.
But there are exceptions like Naresh and Patel, who took on the challenge of putting up a play based on Amir Khusrau's work, in which a baithak singer is the protagonist. Aaj Rang Hai has travelled to Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Jaipur, Delhi and Trichur and returns to Mumbai this week, where it will be staged at the NCPA.
Mody's earlier production, Good Morning Miss Katya explored the dysfunctional life of a 16 year-old, using the musical format.
With several musical plays including The Boy Who Stopped Smiling, Medha & Zoombish I and II, Me Grandad and An Elephant, Yaar, What's the Capital of Manipur, Cotton 56, Polyester 84 and Jazz, Ramanathan is perhaps the only playwright who revists the genre often.
Apart from original writing, musicals also provide composers and choreographers scope for innovation. Alyque Padamsee's 1999 productionu00a0 Evita starred his former wife Sharon Prabhakar and gave choreographer Terence Lewis a platform to perform. Pearl Padamsee productionsu00a0u00a0 launched choregrapher Karla Singh.
As a music composer, DeSouza has worked across theatre groups in the last 30 years. "For the music for Naseeruddin Shah's Julius Caesar, I had used alaap, and Taufiq (Qureshi) played the percussion. I'd also mixed Beethoven symphonies with Teen Taal," she recalls.
In fact, DeSouza was the central point around which Ramanathan's Jazz pirouetted. "The play was constructed around Merlyn as a music composer and the fact that the young Rhys (DeSouza) could play the sax so brilliantly. It was a merging of Rhys and Bugs Bhargava (who sang the songs), a merging of rhythms in contemporary forms like hip-hop with earlier jazz conceptions of swing... that's now become so commonplace in the jazz world."
Is it really worth it?
There is a laundry list of 'issues' that accompany the task of staging a musical. Yet, those who work on these productions swear by the thrill. "We have more costume changes than in a Bollywood song. If you think a Katrina Kaif has 12 costume changes in one number, we have 35 costume changes during a 90-minute show. A different pair of shoes accompany every costume," says an excited Vishaal Asrani, co-director of Love Is In The Air.
For Raell, it's nerve-wrecking. "In the last six months, I must have aged a whole lot while working on Sound Of Music. But it's worth it when you see grown-ups moist-eyed, children giggling, and everyone stand up for an ovation during curtain call."
Rs 25 cr 'musical'
The Zangoora phenomenon
The makers of the Rs 25 crore production, Zangoora - The Gypsy Prince, call it 'India's answer to Broadway.' The kitschy production is known for its sound, light, video and animation effects, aerial choreography, stunts, magic, perhaps even acting by the leads -- Hussain Kuwajerwala, Kashmira Irani, Gauhar Khan and Sadanand Patil -- anything but the singing.
A musical with actors lip-synching is no musical at all. "That's sin for me. If you cannot sing, please do not lead the audience into believing that you are putting up a musical. You are cheating the audience," says Delna Mody.
The grandiosity of the show manages to get Zangoora its supporters. But at the end of the day, it helps to remember what Sunday MidDay columnist Paromita Vohra wrote in an earlier piece on the production: You aren't going there for a tasteful experience but for a taste of kitsch.
Salman Khan's musical connection
Merlyn DeSouza still remembers Hindi film superstar Salman Khan as a gangly 16 year-old who was one of the dancers in her first original musical, Artaban. The play, based on the fourth wise man who kept missing the opportunity to meet Christ, was supported by a local church and performed in Bandra between 1980 and 1981.
Love is in the Air
Vishaal Asrani, Manasi Multani and Sarosh Nanavaty star in the romantic cabaret-style musical comedy. "Cabarets were a very popular form of entertainment that disappeared all of a sudden. We thought it would be nice to revive the format," said producer Kaizaad Kotwal. The performance included traditional Broadway songs, an interpretation of Sinatra's New York, New York, an Amy Winehouse number, Whitney Houston love ballets, and even a couple of Hindi songs.
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