kistha

So, we went to Bombay Dreams on tour in Seattle last night with our friend Jer.

After an amusing car ride, a bit of a walk to the theatre, and a good dinner next door at the Rock Bottom Brewery we got in the huge line for will call tickets.

Then we got inside, got our programs and saw that we had the most awesome seats. 5th row back, dead middle.

Perusing the program I realize that only one of the performers had previously done Bombay Dreams in NY (or, for that matter anywhere else other than this tour.) It also looks like (by the song list) it might be the UK version. Which means I'd have seen both versions, which would be a very cool thing.

By the time the first act had closed, I knew that I didn't like it. Akaash is flat two dimensional, and like the rest of his co-starts has very little charisma. Priya, has an OK voice, but keeps drowning out anyone she's singing with. Sweetie was OK, but the guy I saw in NY, was unbelievably cool. I'm starting to wonder if I'm just having comparison issues, but talking it over, Jer isn't very impressed either. He'd been hoping to be blown away, and was hoping it would get better in the next act. It also looked like they shoved pieces of the UK version (mostly pats of songs, and giving the missing character a bit part instead) where ever they could. It made it much less cool. And Rani - the seductress, just wasn't very seductive. She came across as distant and bored. *sigh*

Go to act II - hoping it will get better. The "talk show host" had a much larger role, and I hated her - and then she butchered my favorite song. Lyrics were changed, to be more "Americanized" something that irritates me to no end. The dance numbers were good, but not as sharp as the NY version.

Then came the two things that kept it from being a total bust.

There is a death in the play, and in NY it was a quick argument, followed by a shooting. The only character that was played by the same person from the NY version, was the villain. In this version, the argument was protracted, and very scary. The villain grapples with her, scaring her, demeaning her. Finally Deep Katdare gets to really unleash his character's villainous aspects. When he finally shoots her, it's almost a surprise. In fact the woman behind me actually gasped out "Oh my god!" Then instead of the hero lifting her and passing her off and singing his song about his realization that he's lost who he was - they had a guest singer come out and sing this incredibly moving piece, all in Hindi. (She also sang for Chaiyya Chaiyya and was incredible there, too.) It was spine chilling.

Then at the very end, after the traditional bows, they go into Chaiyya Chaiyya again, but now, it's much better - they are all cutting loose, singing loud. Finally I'm in the mood to dance, and play and Jer got a tiny taste of what the NY version would have been like.

All the way home we hashed (and bashed) it, and decided all-in-all it was a tour that wasn't really worth seeing for full price. Personally I'm glad I got to see the altered death scene, since I thought the character gets slighted with her death, it was nice to see at least a better and more impacting death and mourning scene.

And since the music still makes me want to dance I danced my way out of the theater.

All's well that ends well, or so they tell me.