COME FALL IN LOVE - THE DDLJ MUSICAL Coming To Broadway During 2022-2023 Season — Page 2

First act is in Boston and across Europe. Relatively standard big Broadway set designs with nice animated backdrops and lighting. Beautiful Swiss villa set near the end of the first act. SPOILER ALERT. Second act is in India with beautiful carved Indian arches framing the set, which are innovatively lit. Nothing jaw dropping but all completely appropriate. There's a very clever costume change in the first act Switzerland scene.

This new musical deserves all the attention. I went today to the matinee and immediately went out of the show to grab a ticket for a second visit.

It is a joy. The musical is very well rounded, and in today’s preview everything ran smoothly. I’m not familiar with the movie, so I cannot compare the difference in this adaptation. I really enjoyed the book. There is a very good balance with all the characters and all (even the ones introduce just in the second act) are very memorable. I loved the comedic timing.

The scenic design is very clever. There are some great transitions (during So Far and Come Fall in Love), and the use of projections has been one of my favorites recently.

My favorite numbers: So Far, Come Fall in Love (both during first act and the opening number in Act 2), Pigeons, Can’t Put a Ring on It and Holi Hai (the finale)

Extended through 10/23! This show is pure joy.

www.theoldglobe.org/pdp/22-season/come-fall-in-love

Saw the second performance 6 weeks ago and saw the closing today. Still a wonderful, joyous show that the audience loved. They changed nary a thing since the opening (I would cut the Rome stop in the title number) and it still works like gangbusters with sensational leads. No word of a transfer yet but this should be a smash on Broadway

Yes, they've changed the male lead from Raj, an Indian guy (the role played by Shah Rukh Khan) to Rog, an American (I think, unless he's a Brit). I suppose so that we of the white part of the non-South Asian audience can identify with him. As to how someone is thinking.

Interesting… Does anyone know if NY Tix a reputable source? They currently have it listed as previews beginning on Nov 8th, 2023 with an opening night of Dec 1st, 2023.


What’s even more interesting is the fact that they have it listed as occupying the Imperial Theatre…. Which is where BAD CINDERELLA is currently playing. Does this mean BAD CINDERELLA has already established a closing date and simply hasn’t announced it? Hmmm……..

Any updates on this? Now that Bad Cinderella is closing ?

I just realized that Aditya Chopra is directing this -- if that's the case I am very optimistic about it! I have seen the original many times, it is a joy. And it is *very* right to have a subtitle referencing DDLJ, for the gigantic South Asian audience this is probably a #1 many-generation favorite musical -- also billed as India's longest-running movie, as it still shown at a morning show in a small Bombay theater.

Is there anybody here who knows DDLJ who has also seen the show? One thing I wonder about is, have they kept the tunes for the songs and added English lyrics? My guess would be yes, as they are wonderful and super-well-known.

If you were in India waiting for the movie, you'd be hearing the songs on the radio -- here's a taste -- and -- are these in the show?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bNwqXvMuB8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNV5hLSa9H8

VirginiaK, if it's any help there is a songlist for the musical at https://www.theoldglobe.org/globalassets/pdfs/song-lists/cfilsonglist-9-15-22.pdf?id=47922, but all the song titles are in English so I can't tell if any match up. This review also does say that "the iconic original soundtrack is gone": https://www.thejuggernaut.com/come-fall-in-love-ddlj-musical-review.

Another fun song from the original film is this one, Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko, in which the two leads finally realise upon parting that they're into one another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw_HpTI_Wkw (English subtitles available). I think this one would translate very well to the stage.

VirginiaK said:

Is there anybody here who knows DDLJ who has also seen the show? One thing I wonder about is, have they kept the tunes for the songs and added English lyrics? My guess would be yes, as they are wonderful and super-well-known.

"

The only song left of Jatin-Lalit's wonderful song score in the original film is "Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna" in the original Hindi, and the signature instrumental melody of "Tujhe Dekha To" is played a bit. But that's it. The rest are new songs by Vishal and Shekhar, whose work I generally like a lot ("Chammak Challo" is an all-time banger for me, for instance), but I found their work here not nearly as inspired as their film compositions, never mind Jatin-Lalit's eternal work in DDLJ.

As a longtime (non-Indian) viewer of Hindi/Tamil/Telugu film, I thought the show was a dreadful sellout, and I can't believe Aditya Chopra himself was behind it. Changing the ethnicity of the male lead (even if, as he claims, having a white male lead was his original conception of the film) fundamentally changes this into an entirely different thing narratively and thematically. It's no longer about a "modern" young, West-raised South Asian showing that he can win over his love's family by showing he still respects the traditional values and properly court her. It's now a tired cultures-clashing love story that we've seen before in many ways, with a Caucasian and a non-white culture. I was thoroughly disappointed, to put it very mildly.

Updated On: 5/19/23 at 03:47 AM

twotrey said: "VirginiaK said:

Is there anybody here who knows DDLJ who has also seen the show? One thing I wonder about is, have they kept the tunes for the songs and added English lyrics? My guess would be yes, as they are wonderful and super-well-known.

"

The only song left of Jatin-Lalit's wonderful song score in the original film is "Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna" in the original Hindi, and the signature instrumental melody of "Tujhe Dekha To" is played a bit. But that's it. The rest are new songs by Vishal and Shekhar, whose work I generally like a lot ("Chammak Challo" is an all-time banger for me, for instance), but I found their work here not nearly as inspired as their film compositions, never mind Jatin-Lalit's eternal work in DDLJ.

As a longtime (non-Indian) viewer of Hindi/Tamil/Telugu film, I thought the show was a dreadful sellout, and I can't believe Aditya Chopra himself was behind it. Changing the ethnicity of the male lead (even if, as he claims, having a white male lead was his original conception of the film) fundamentally changes this into an entirely different thing narratively and thematically. It's no longer about a "modern" young, West-raised South Asian showing that he can win over his love's family by showing he still respects the traditional values and properly court her. It's now a tired cultures-clashing love story that we've seen before in many ways, with a Caucasian and a non-white culture. I was thoroughly disappointed, to put it very mildly."

Twotrey, belated thanks for answering my questions a year ago. I see that this is about to open in London so I'm back here.


Very disappointing if there's no Indian choreographer *and* virtually none of the terrific (and extremely well-known to generations of South Asian movie-goers on all continents) music from the original movie in the show. Let's see how it fares in a location (London) where there's likely to be a big audience contingent who knows the movie. In general I don't require that a movie-to-stage undertaking match the original, but in this case I don't see the point of losing all the songs. The Bollywood or other Indian commercial movies that have succeeded in the US have some western characters in them (Lagaan, RRR) so I get the rationale for the Raj-to-Roger decision.

On the other hand -- Aditya Chopra has a good track record for knowing what he's doing so I'll hope for a pleasant surprise.

What happened to this? The website is still up..