Baayork Lee to Direct Bombay Dreams International Tour

Bombay Dreams will take off on an international tour in a production directed by A Chorus Line's Baayork Lee.

The musical, which incorporated the pulsing sounds and colorful visuals of Bollywood films into its story, will launch its tour on February 21st, 2006, in Cosa Mesa, CA (after playing an out-of-town tryout in Tucson, AZ). The show, which will also feature choreography by Lisa Stevens, musical direction by Kevin Farrell and sets by Ken Foy; the costumes are from the Broadway production.� The tour will be a co-production with members of the Independent Presenters Network (which includes a number of theatres in the US and Canada), Atlanta's Theater of the Stars and Bucephalus Touring LLC.

A hit in London (where it opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in 2002 and closed in 2004), Bombay Dreams opened at the Broadway Theatre on April 29th, 2004 and ran for 30 previews and 284 regular performances. With music by A R Rahman and Don Black, the lavish show was based on an idea by Shekhur Kapur and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was the musical's original producer. Meera Syal penned the book--concerning the romance of a Bollywood star wannabe named Akaash and the glamorous movie goddess Rani--and Tony Award-winner Thomas Meehan (The Producers, Hairspray) is adapting a new book based on the Broadway and London scripts. The tour will feature a combination of music from the original London version and from the Broadway production.

Bombay Dreams' score includes "Salaa'm Bombay," "Bollywood," "I Could Live Here," "Is This Love?," "Famous," "Chaiyya Chaiyya," "How Many Stars?," and "Shakalaka Baby," which was danced around a spectacular onstage fountain on Broadway. The fountain will be featured in the tour. Cities for the tour are as follows (with dates and venues to be announced soon): Tucson, AZ, Costa Mesa, CA, Huntsville, AL, Columbus, OH, Cleveland, OH, St. Louis, MO, Clearwater, FL, Sacramento, CA, Houston, TX, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Charlotte, NC, Pittsburgh, PA, Atlanta, GA, Toronto, ON, CAN, and Seattle, WA.

Baayork Lee originated the role of Connie in A Chorus Line; she will also recreate Michael Bennett's choreography for the landmark musical's 2006 revival. Other performing credits include Seesaw, Promises, Promises, Henry, Sweet Henry, Golden Boy, Mr. President, and Flower Drum Song; Lee also served as the associate choreographer of My One and Only.

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