Phantom of the Opera Yes and so i agree, Howabout the song
"closer than ever"? (Bombay Dreams). Phantom of the Opera is a
classical western.
Bombay Dreams is more in current trends. Let me just tell u, the
original creator of Bombay Dreams is not Andrew. It is ar rahman.
some popular musician from india. u can see the differemce, because
andrew does not like to have pop music like shakkalakka baby.
arrhman is techno musician like amon tobin. i am not familir
(except for the song by Jolin Tsai)with it but give me a rough idea
that he's a "computer gimmick person" but some people say he make
music which is a decade ahead of time .Andrew thinks the guy is his
successor in an interview i read before (below).
Showbusiness: Lloyd Webber passes his mantle to a star of
India
By NIGEL REYNOLDS
Saturday Premiere
HOT NEWS. There will be a brand new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in
London next year - or, to be strictly accurate, a new musical that
has been forged, hammered and produced by him, but will not feature
any of his music.
Work is progressing so fast on Bombay Dreams that Lloyd Webber
tells me it will hit the West End next April. Extraordinarily, he
claims that the composer is so good that he could be the key to the
future of the musical genre.
His new protege, Abdul Rahman, 35, has written the music for more
than 50 Bollywood films as well as numerous hit pop tunes. When
Lloyd Webber heard his music on British television for the first
time, he persuaded the film director Shekhar Kapur to effect an
introduction between them.
Since then, Rahman has been flying back and forth between Bombay
and London. He has now completed almost 16 songs for Bombay Dreams.
Meera Syal (the wit behind Goodness Gracious Me) is writing the
story (based on a five-page outline by Lloyd Webber and Kapur) and
Steven Pimlott has already been hired to direct.
"I haven't heard a musical in the last 20 years which has got such
good tunes," says Lloyd Webber - which is some compliment from the
composer of Cats, Evita, Phantom, etc.
"Rahman is fantastic. His music is so beautiful, and I believe what
he is writing is so far ahead of the game that we could be talking
about the future of musicals for a very long time."
Just as pop music needed new influences from world music, so
musicals need fresh infusion from other continents, he says. "I
thought when the Iron Curtain came down that it would come from
Russia. It didn't. Now, I'm sure that it is coming from
India.
"I really look on Rahman as someone I can pass the mantle on
to."
The plot, he says, is set in Bollywood. It features the daughter of
a wealthy Bombay film producer who falls in love with a man from
the slums, and their story is the struggle of love over
prejudice.
"I think the old Lloyd Webber audience will go to this, but we are
also after a new audience," he adds.
The first auditions have already been held, but Lloyd Webber is
having difficulty finding the right British Asian actors. "Anybody
who can help, please get in touch. I'll give you a clue what we're
looking for - for the lead, we want a Hindi answer to John
Travolta."
