Bombay Dreams, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bollywood-based musical extravaganza, will debut in Broadway this January in a revamped version of the successful West End production.
Two white American tourists will be used to explain the mysteries of Bombay to the audience. These new characters have been introduced by Thomas Meehan, author of Broadway hits like The Producers and Hairspray.
Meehan has been brought in to help with the revamp in co-operation with Meera Syal, the author-actress who wrote the script for Bombay Dreams. Ace composer A R Rahman has scored the music. Meehan has also suggested changes to the lyrics and dialogue.
The Broadway production will include three new songs.
Bombay Dreams, produced at a cost of £4.5 million has just celebrated its first anniversary. It is the most successful new musical in West End, with a weekly box office reportedly in excess of £1 million.
The show, modelled on Bollywood films, blends music, drama and dance in a traditional formula centred on a boy-meets-girl story set in a background of family intrigue.
Don Black, the show's Oscar-winning lyricist, said: "The idea of the tourists is simple but effective. Changes are necessary because, though Bollywood is part and parcel of British life, it is only just becoming known in the US."
The white characters are first-time visitors to Bombay, now known as Mumbai. They will wander in and out of the show interacting with the main characters and 'interpreting' the sights, sounds and language of India for Broadway audiences.
Syal said the changes were vital to help Americans understand the show, which tells the story of a slum-dweller who becomes a film star.
"The device of having an American tourist is very helpful because our main character talks to them and tells them about Bombay, the slums and the glamour," she said.
"British audiences, and we take this for granted, now know a huge amount about Indian culture compared to the average American. Our presence here is much more visible. There has been a genuine cultural exchange between the Asian community in Britain and the host community."
