Bombay Dreams the musical is going on a seven-month North American tour, including Toronto, and dholbanger Dave Sharma is going with it. First stop: Costa Mesa, California, on Feb. 21.
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Sachin Bhatt plays Akaash |
Sachin Bhatt will star as Akaash with Sandra Allen as Rani and Reshma Shetty as Priya in the upcoming tour.. The cast will also feature Deep Katdare as Vikram, Aneesh Sheth as Sweetie, Suresh John as Madan and Christine Toy Johnson as Kitty DeSousa.
The Bombay Dreams ensemble comprises 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 Klemons, Jeremy Leiner, Garrick Macatangay, Kenneth Maharaj, Anil Margsahayam, Skie Ocasio, Desmond Osborne, Christopher Quiban, Kristian Richards, Rommy Sandhu and Marie Kelly. [Link]
Sachin Bhatt… of St. Louis, MO received his B.S. in Vocal Performance with an outside field in Theatre from Indiana University… Sachin will be playing the role of Chino in the upcoming Asian/European Tour of West Side Story… [Link]
Fortunately, the star attraction will be there with them:
The fountain will be featured in the tour… the costumes are from the Broadway production. [Link]
Roadshows are like movies’ DVD and overseas rights. Investors are giving their flagstaffs a final shake to squeeze out the remaining drops of their investments. The tour takes on only new leads but also a new director:
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Director Baayork Lee |
Baayork Lee, whose many Broadway performance credits include the original cast of A Chorus Line, will direct the international tour of Bombay Dreams… [Link][Lee] began taking dancing lessons at the age of three, when she was growing up in Chinatown, and in 1951… she was chosen, along with several other Chinese children, to appear in the original production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I… Seven years later, she appeared in R. & H.’s Flower Drum Song…
When she was in her twenties, Lee, whose first name, she said, means “precious jewel,” originated the role of Connie in A Chorus Line. “I was Connie Wong,” Lee said. “She’s a short Asian—she’s four foot ten. It’s the story of my life—I wanted to be a ballerina. I wanted to be Maria Tallchief, and I studied at the School of American Ballet for so many years.” Lee played Connie for three years, and then went on to direct all the foreign Chorus Line companies. [Link]
Here’s the full tour schedule:
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Sandra Allen in ‘Flower Drum Song’ |
Feb. 21-March 5 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA
March 10-12 at the Broadway Theatre League in Huntsville, AL
March 14-19 at the Palace Theatre in Columbus, OH
March 21-April 2 at the Playhouse Square Center in Cleveland, OH
April 4-16 at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, MO
April 18-23 at the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL
May 9-21 at the Sacramento Community Center Theater in Sacramento, CA
May 23-June 4 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston, TX
June 6-18 at Dallas Summer Musicals in Dallas, TX
July 11-23 at the Buell Theatre in Denver, CO
July 25-30 at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC
Aug. 1-6 at the Pittsburgh CLO in Pittsburgh, PA
Aug. 8-13 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA
Aug. 15-20 at the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada
Sept. 12-Oct. 1 at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, WA [Link]
It’ll be interesting to see how it does in the South and Midwest. I’ve argued before that although the show has a gloss of exotica, the story is really a straightforward, ’50s-style musical. It should do well outside the Snarktic Circle of theater critics in Manhattan.
