Don't rest your case so quickly....
Les Miz got nearly across the board raves and took home 8 Tonys. Frank Rich stated "if anyone doubts that the contemporary musical theater can flex its atrophied muscles and yank an audience right out of its seats, he need look no further than the Act I finale of 'Les Miserables'..... The stirring sentiments belong to hallowed nineteenth century literature to be sure, but the fresh charge generated by this 'Miserables' has everything to do the electrifying showmanship of the twentieth century musical."
Rich was a little less enthusiastic about "Cats," but not much: "It's a musical that transports the audience into a complete fantasy world that could only exist in the theater and yet, these days, rarely does. Whatever the other failings and excesses, even banalities, of 'Cats,' it believes in purely theatrical magic, and on that faith it unquestionably delivers." It went on to win 7 Tonys.
Neither is a favorite show of mine, but fair is fair, both got mostly very positive reviews. "Bombay Dreams" would kill to have quotes like theirs. The Indian and South Asian population in the NY metropolitan area is about half what it is in London, not to mention that Bollywood films are very popular in mainstream, non-Indian British culture, while the vast majority of Americans have never even seen or heard of them. Add to that, the substantially higher running costs here than in the West End and virtually no chance of getting any significant Tony Awards and it looks like "Bombay Dreams" is going to have a hard uphill battle surviving in NY. I'd give it a year or two at most, but I doubt it'll ever recoup.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
