I got to see Bombay Dreams a week or two ago, and
was disappointed. However the Great British Public
seem to like it. The evening performance was fully
booked and the matinee couldn't have been much fuller,
and it is by no means a small theatre.

The bright lighting leached the colour from the
performers faces and I had the feeling of watching
people pretending to be Indian. But thinking about
it, I doubt that many of the performers had spent
much, if any, time in India and certainly had never
spent any time living in a Bombay slum. An Indian
name does not an Indian make.

Although the music is entirely credited to ARR, it is
more Lloyd-Webber than Rahman and I think that was
the cause of my disappointment. In a musical one
doesn't expect serious plots and sub-plots, and
character development is not a first priority but
one does have to enjoy the music, and it simply did
not grab me.

The rest of the audience seemed to disagree with me
and I don't doubt there are those who've seen it
many times; with full houses so long after its
opening it must be doing something right. Perhaps
I'm just a miserable curmudgeon.

A.