Bombay Dreams in SEATTLE, WA. Last Chance to See the Show.- Page 14

[noahrp3]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 3:24am

Oh i didn;t see it yet. haha. I was just saying what the seats were like based on what I've previously seen up there at OCPAC. I am seeing it tomorrow night though (actually now it would be tonight). I'm gonna get the $15 seats (with discount) and hopefully find a seat in the orchestra that I can move down to at intermission. (Hopefully the ushers won't stop me like they did last time. haha) I will definitely post a review for you though.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 9:59pm

can't wait for your review.

Updated On: 2/24/06 at 09:59 PM

[noahrp3]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 2:59am

Ok. I just got back from seeing the Bombay Dreams national tour at OCPAC. I went to the box office with my friend and we bought $15 seats waaaaay in the back. When we got in the theatre, I saw TONS of empty seats in all of the balconies and the orchestra. We quickly decided to run down to the orchestra and right before the show began, we found 2 empty seats in row N center. I was SO excited. My evening was off to a great start. Now for my review of the show.First of all, I really enjoyed this show. Its not a perfect show, but I had tons of fun watching it. The whole cast had lots of energy, (especially in the big production numbers). All the dancers and choreography was very together and I really loved the choreography. I will give a review of each number of the show, starting off with the opening.

At first, I was not pulled right into the action. I thought the opening was extremely cheesy and kind of stupid with the whole "Access Bollywood" thing. They made some stupid jokes and I didn't really like it. But once the show got rolling, I was very intrigued. "Bombay Dreams" was a pretty good number. It wasn;t too exciting, but it was alright. Sachin Bhatt played Akaash and he is a very talented actor. His singing and dancing were great and I liked him from the moment he came out. He did very well with "Like an Eagle" although I'm not a big fan of the song. "Love's Never Easy" was a very beautiful song and is easily one of my favorites in the show. Aneesh Sheth who played Sweetie sang this and was the most talented actor out of everyone in the cast. He had a beautiful voice and was very believable. Next was "Happy Endings" with Priya and Madan. This song is very forgettable and I didn't really like it. All I remember is that Reshma Shetty who played Priya didn't have a very good voice. But I was hopeful that maybe it was just that song. Next was the Miss India Pageant sequence. I really loved this whole thing except for at the beginning when more stupid jokes were said by Christine Toy Johnson who played Kitty DaSouza. "Lovely Lovely Ladies" was a decent number. Nothing that blew me away, although I did like Sandra Allen's (who played Rani) enterance when she came down on the moon. This girl is very talented and has a lot of charisma on stage. She has a great voice too and looked like she was having a lot of fun. When Akaash came on to sing "Bhangra" the energy in the cast got really pumped up and it made me want to start dancing. I really enjoyed this number.

The next number was one of my favorite production numbers in the whole show. "Shakalaka Baby" was GREAT! It had so much energy and I loved the choreography. I was not expecting that thing that all the girls were standing on to be a fountain. When water started shooting up, I was blown away. It was very cool. After this, Priya came out to sing another song ("Is This Love") Again, this was kind of a boring song and pretty forgettable. The reason why is because Reshma Shetty looked so bored while doing it. She had no charisma and no stage presence. She had a few pitch problems, but not too bad. I just found her voice to be very annoying. The act one finale let me down a little bit as the orchestra was just not together on it and it ended very weirdly. I don’t know how to describe it. Sorry.

On to act two. The opening of act two (“Chaiyya Chaiyya) was the best number in the entire show. By far my favorite and I’ve had the song stuck in my head all night. It had tons of energy and it was my favorite choreography out of anything. Also, it’s a very catchy tune. “Famous” was sung very well by Christine Toy Johnson and I really loved her voice. She’s a talented woman. “How Many Stars” was a nice song and nice to listen to. Reshma Shetty actually performed this one decently with Sachin Bhatt. “Hero” was sung very beautifully by Aneesh Sheth and Reshma Shetty. Reshma had some bad pitch problems in this song, but Aneesh Sheth (Sweetie) made up for it. He has a beautiful voice and this was such a beautiful song to listen to. I think they changed the name of the song “Closer Than Ever” to this though because I notice that there was no Closer Than Ever song listed in the program. The wedding sequence was great! I really loved this number. Great dancing and great music ( I loved the percussion in it) “The Journey Home” was such a great and beautiful song and it was very emotional. Sachin Bhatt did an awesome job with it. The finale was great and I was very happy when they brought the fountain out again to do Shakalaka again.

A couple people that I didn;t mention yet are Suresh John as Madan and Deep Katdare as Vikram. Suresh was very funny and made me laugh. He was a great actor. Deep Katdare as Vikram was decent. He was not believable to me and was not evil enough. The only complaint that I have about the show is Reshma Shetty. She is a very weak link and her singing, acting, and dancing are not up to par with the rest of the cast.

I LOVED the sets and costumes. This production was very pretty to look at and had beautiful scenery and lighting. The costumes were great too. I liked the whole “movie studio” concept behind it. Although at times, the lady with the clapper that came out and said “Bombay Dreams scene 77 take 1" got a little irritating. The orchestra was decent. I wasn;t blown away by it. There were many parts where they weren’t together, but overall they were good. There were parts of this show that were extremely cheesy and made me feel embarassed for the actos, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this show and it was a great night at the theatre and a lot of fun. I recommend this show to everyone, although I wouldn;t pay top ticket price for it. Do what I did instead and buy the cheap tickets and find empty seats and move there. I am very pumped up from this show and will probably be singing Shakalaka Baby for the next few days. :)
Updated On: 2/22/06 at 02:59 AM

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 3:15am

awesome review!!! i remember people bitching about Tamyra Gray not being from India, the real fact is that her voice was amazing and she rocked the audience at the Broadway theatre. Whoever played Pryia was probably having an off night. I doubt they would hire someone with absolutely no talent for the International Tour. But maybe she does suck. I will see this myself soon. Can't wait!!!

[noahrp3]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 3:22am

Thanks. yeah it seemed weird to me too that they would cast her. She just couldn;t act and didn't look like she was having any fun during the dances. Hopefully she was just sick or something. Is Tamyra Gray the one on the cd? I bought the cd at the show tonight and am listening to it right now.

[noahrp3]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 3:30am

never mind. I found out who was on the cd. She is amazing though. The cd sounds much better than the show I saw and the orchestra sounds better. Maybe the orchestra was reduced for the national tour?

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 3:31am

nah!!! Tamyra just did it on Broadway for a few months. The cd is the London Cast. Pryia just dances in the final number as far as i remember though. Tamyra is the African American girl from the top 5 of the 1st season of American Idol. By the way, many of the songs sung by Pryia are A Capella in the show. So it was amazing when Tamyra did it. Take a look at the clip
http://www.youtube.com/?v=nI70kTlVUfY
By the way, what is your favorite song so far?

[noahrp3]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 3:40am

Well, I have a hard time deciding between the Journey Home and Closer than Ever (which is now Hero). My favorite production numbers are Shakalaka and Chaiyya Chaiyya though.

[noahrp3]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 3:42am

WOW!!! Tamyra is amazing. I've never heard her before. Thanks for the clip.

[noahrp3]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 11:32am

Are there any clips of the show anywhere online? Also, I saw the dvd for sale at the theatre and was wondering if it was any good. Can someone tell me a little bit about the dvd? Thanks.

[lovinlife]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 11:37am

Tamyra was OK, always very nervous. There is a DVD I bought at the theatre which documents the making of the musical and has about half of the productions numbers as Extra's. Also, they have Shaka-Laka Baby music video which is pretty corny but it worked. Try to find it on Amazon or something. It's a must have for any one who loves the show.

[noahrp3]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 11:38am

Alight. Thanks.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 11:55am

they have a few clips on www.reallyuseful.com also there was a video clip of the opening on Broadway.com, the dvd is for sale online, i love it, because it has all the rehearsal process and more. Andrew is a genious...he is god!!! i am still not over the loss of The Woman in White.

[TLKfan]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 6:15pm

Is there a touring orchestra or do they just hire them in each town? That could be the problem and it's the first week for everyone actually performing it all.

I can't wait! One more day! But the one thing is that it kinda sucks that they have the songs from London that are kinda stupid...oh well.

[TLKfan]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 6:19pm

Oh I have a question. I don't recall seeing the cresent moon in the BWY version. Did they do that? It's been such a long time that I cannot recall some of the scenes,etc.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 6:23pm

Im so excited for you TLK, well....people on Broadway bitched because they took away a couple of songs from the London version. I am kinda with you, i loved the Broadway show the way it was. I also saw Tamyra. It seems like the original Pryia got very bad reviews.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 6:24pm

I think they had the moon. But i dont recall that scene either. It's funny how one forgets about the shows. When i saw The Woman in White last sunday...i forgot about half of the show!

[TLKfan]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 8:40pm

hehe, yeah I forget stuff all the time, unless I see the show a lot and yet there are certain things I still forget.

When I listened to BD Cd after the BWY show, I have to say that I was happy with the changes. I never listen to "Don't Release Me" and I hardly listen to "Happy Endings" because they are stupid/annoying or just not that interesting.

Yeah I've heard a lot about how the original Priya wasn't good. I thought she was OK, but she was very young.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:09am

i like "Happy Endings" that was on the Broadway show, but "Don't release me" is pretty bad.

[TLKfan]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:03am

I cringe every time I hear "Don't Release Me". ugh horrible.
Yay, 20 hrs to the show!

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 8:52pm

i know...i hate "don't release me"

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 12:56am

I was just reading Ben Brantley's review of Bombay Dreams. I don't really agree with critics and Brantley is definitly not my favorite, but he gave Bombay Dreams a positive review:
http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9D06E0D6163DF933A05757C0A9629C8B63
Brantley raves Ayesha Dharker's performance as Rani, also he says that the show was a "Fat, nose-thumbing hit" in London. New York Post's Clive Barnes described the show as "Glitzy, Splashy and Fun."

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 1:01am

I didn't know that Ayesha Dharker originated the role of Rani, both in London and Broadway.

Updated On: 2/24/06 at 01:01 AM

[TLKfan]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 3:36am

Ok I saw the show! I must say I am kind of sad that it wasn't more similar to the Broadway show...It was nice to see Deep Katddare as Vikram because I saw him on BWY. Kitty's character was ok. Her hair wasn't as big and she shang "Famous" which seemed very strange, but it was an ok song. Sandra Allen was pretty good as Rani, ofcourse not as good as Ayesha but she was fun.

I have to say that the biggest disappointment was Priya (Reshma Shetty). She had a good voice, but totally didn't fit for this role! It was way too vibrato-ie. It didn't fit the character. Her credits are from operas and so is her understudy so I don't know how she'd be too. My favorite person was Sweetie, Aneesh had an amazing voice. It was great. He had a beautiful vibrato. The one thing I thought was that the song was a little lower but it might have been that his voice was very rich at high notes...Akash was good too.

The sets are soo tiny compared to BWY. It kind of surprised me and was a disappointmen (ie. water scene), but the costumes were just as good as BWY. I don't know if it was the theatre, but the mics and speakers were horrible. When the music was loud and someone was trying to sing, it got muffled because the orchestra was too loud. I couldn't figure out where the problem was. Maybe it was the sound guy because even the ensemble was hard to hear at times and some of the people had hot mikes so it wasn't a blended sound of the group.

I can't wait to see it again next week because I will not be on the last tier, but in orchestra, and I can actually see more.

One last thing, it was fun to see A.R. Rahman's music videos being played before the show started. It definately gives you an idea of what Bollywood films are like. If I think of any more I'll write tomorrow. I am a bit tired... Goodnight!

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 11:38am

well, after all im very happy that the music is loud, because i was worried about the music not being loud, like it is on many touring Broadway shows.