Disney brings its first Broadway production to city in Oct-Nov

MUMBAI: Book a berth for Broadway this year-end and step into the enchanted world of Beauty and the Beast as Disney makes its theatrical debut in the country with an all-Indian cast and crew.
After scouring five cities—Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai—and 8,000 contending performers, the list was whittled down to 18 who will take centrestage in Mumbai from October to November, before moving to Delhi in December.
An audio-visual spectacle of live performances, ravishing sets and radical stage dynamics will define the 130-minute musical, absorbing not just actors, but singers and dancers too. “It was quite a feat to find performers who can do all three, but now you can expect an equivalent of what you’d see in Broadway,” assured Siddharth Roy Kapur, managing director, Disney India.
The musical has been localized in terms of a shift from the proscenium arch theatre with local talents steering the production, but the essence of the original remains uninterrupted, with music created by Alan Menken, lyrics of Tim Rice and support from the Disney theatrical group in New York camping in India till the launch.
The two venues—Dome @NSCI-SVP Stadium in Mumbai and Thyagaraj Sports Complex in Delhi—will transform into a magical village complete with taverns, castles, clock tower and balconies, with a giant well at its centre that will seat a chunk of the audience. Vikrant Pawar, known for directing Kingdom of Dreams and Zangoora, is the director, while music maker Lesle Lewis and choreographer Terence Lewis will help recreate the songs and dance.
Without revealing investment numbers, Kapur chose to draw parallels with their movie studio. “It’ll be the budget of a mid-size movie. We’re in it for the long haul. The company is getting together in a way it does for a big television or movie launch to leverage the strength of this project.” After testing waters in Mumbai and Delhi, Belle and her Beast might take a leap to other Indian cities too.