If you are one of the half million people who have seen the hit London musical Bombay Dreams and may not want to see it when it opens on Broadway in April, think again. 
"The core talent -- producer Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer A R Rahman and choreographer Saroj Khan -- that made the show a big success in London is there in New York, but it is going to be quite a different show," said director Steven Pimlott in an exclusive interview.
He also said the rumours that white actors would play Indian characters on Broadway are 'completely false.' Among the artistes considered are, movie veteran Madhur Jaffrey for the role of Shanti, a key character in the slums, and Manu Narayan for the part of Akaash, the slum kid smitten by Bollywood glamour.
The musical begins previewing March 29 and opens a month later. Pimlott said the rehearsals would begin in mid December.
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"The show in New York would sound and look very different," he continued. "Musically too, some of the songs like Daddyji have been eliminated, and Rahman has written three new numbers. We thought it was very important to make changes for Broadway."
The Shakalaka baby and the Chhaiyya chhaiyya numbers that were a rage in London would be retained on Broadway. And so would be the qawwali that appears at the end of the show.
"Like the London audiences, we feel the New York audiences would be prepared for it, having witnessed a wonderful Bollywood story till then," he said.
The musical, which cost about $6.5 million in London and recouped the investment in about 12 months reviving the career of composer and impressario Lloyd Webber (Cats, Evita), could cost $12 million on Broadway, with the top tickets going for $100.
It will have to gross $22 million before it becomes profitable. For any big budget musical, profitability is a big challenge, since Broadway wages are very high. As a result, just about 25 per cent of Broadway shows in a year make a profit.
While the New York show plays at the Broadway Theatre, which has about 1,600 seats, the London show will continue in its present state, Pimlott added. The Broadway show will be significantly different from the London one.
Composer Rahman, who was recently signed for the $14 million The Lord Of The Rings, might end up having two shows simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic. If both versions of Bombay Dreams continue in 2004 when the Rings opus opens, Rahman will be in a truly unenviable position.
Pimlott believes the New York show is more challenging than the London one, not just because it costs much more.
"In London, we began the show from scratch," he said. "We wanted to do something unique -- tell a story set in Bollywood. We are doing it in New York too, but we thought the story needed to be stronger to succeed [in New York]."
Despite the show's hit status in London, New York remains a formidable challenge, he admitted. "In a way, this is an even more important, invigorating challenge," he said. "In England, we feel the Indian culture is part of our history. But obviously, this is not so in America, even in a cosmopolitan city like New York."
Several characters such as the fist-clenching, eye-raising villain of the original show have been removed. The bitchy gossip columnist Kitty won't be travelling to Broadway, either.
"Instead, we have a stronger Bollywood story of this young man from the slums who tastes big success in the show business, but feels empty inside," Pimlott said. "The emphasis is on the inner journey of this young man."
"It will be more of him leaving home and, following disillusionment, returning to his humble home," Pimlott offered. "There will be much more drama and substance in the new version and yet it will be very entertaining, like the good Bollywood movies."
He said the fine Bollywood movies appealed to him because they celebrated an idealistic world: the good guys win in the end, the evil [people] are punished, and people learn important lessons. "There is definitely some appeal in such things," he had said in an earlier interview.
Meera Syal's book has been extensively revised with the help of Tony winner Thomas Meehan, the writer whose credits include such huge hits as Producers and Hairspray.
Like in London, in New York, it will be the show and its music that will serve as the magnets. The actors are hardly known. "We were lucky to discover a lot of excellent talent across North America in the South Asian communities," Pimlott said. "I am not against casting non-Indians in the show, but it is extremely important that this being the first show of its kind, it should have Asian American artistes represented."
"Later, if we come across interesting non-Indian talents, we may consider a multi-racial casting."
There have been press reports that the Broadway edition will have a narrator who will tell the audiences a few things about Bollywood. "We aren't going for anything like that," Pimlott, who spoke from his London home, said. "Instead, we have couple of Americans who visit Akaash [the lead player] in the slums. He talks about Bollywood and what makes a Bollywood film. When he talks to the hijras in Mumbai, that will help us bring Sweetie, the hijra, on stage."
Rahman too feels the changes are absolutely crucial. In an interview from his Chennai home, he had said that while the audience in London was more familiar with Bollywood, he was afraid the average American knew very little.
The new show will have a new, big 'rousing Bollywood' number within the first 20 minutes or so of the show.
"In London, many people felt the big number Shakalaka baby came after quite some time," Pimlott said. "In New York, we want to make things move faster."
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