Shilpa Shetty is launching her new musical Miss Bollywood which opens on 3rd November in Manchester (Opera House) with the tour continuing in Cardiff (St Davids Hall), Bradford (St Georges Hall), Aberdeen (His Majestys Theatre), Glasgow, (Clyde Auditorium), Birmingham (Alexandra Theatre), Cambridge (Corn Exchange) and London (Royal Albert Hall).Renowned for her outstanding dancing abilities in the realm of Bollywood film, Shilpa Shetty is set to bring the stage alight with a musical extravaganza that has never before been brought to the stage. Set against the backdrop of London, in preparing for the 2012 Olympics, the musical follows the story of Maya performed by Shilpa Shetty, a young classically trained choreographer who finds herself thrust into the limelight where she must sink or swim. Her tribulations include the unwanted attentions of a famous but predatory choreographer and a jealous diva.Miss Bollywood is a concoction of riveting dance sequences showcasing a combination of eclectic dance forms taken from the east and west of India, absorbed and transformed into the phenomenon known as Bollywood dance, with Shilpa Shetty re-capturing on stage some of the Bollywood film industrys greatest hits over the past 40 years.An Indian Heroine in LondonAs London prepares to host the 2012 Olympics, the citys Mayor announces that run- down areas in the East will undergo renovation and renewal. All good and well unless you happen to be Maya, a dancer and choreographer, recently arrived from India, who has invested her savings setting up a Dance Academy in a building to be demolished. Now Maya must aim for the dizzy heights of stardom to get herself and her hysterical friends out of a fix. She lands an audition for Nick, a powerful promoter of live entertainment and replaces Sophiya, Nicks old flame and, until Maya showed up, his female lead. Mayas arrival infuses the performing company with new inspiration and gusto and causes the romantic Jay, the leading male dancer, to go weak at the knees.
When Nick invites Maya to join him at the Mayors party, she accepts, hoping to make an appeal on behalf of her community for compensation and more time to move to other premises. As far as Nick is concerned, Maya is the missing ingredient he needs to clinch the deal for the Mayors concert and someone he is determined to get close to.
The party rocks, drinks flow and Nick gets fresh with his new muse, earning himself one tight slap for his troubles. The Mayor witnesses this then begins to read a letter from Maya that makes him see red. Has Maya blown her chances? Or is it possible for a principled girl to take up Nicks challenge and put together a bid of her own?
Miss Bollywood is a tongue-in-cheek look at innocence abroad and how it can survive in spite of itself and the culturally diverse obstacle course that it encounters along the way. Only this time, it is the differences between European Desis like Nick and newly arrived economic migrants like Maya, her two wacky neighbours Hasmukhlal and Mansukhlal and the level-headed eight year old Shruti that provide the conflict and the fun.
As unlikely stories go, this one is pure Bollywood in that it tempts us to believe that the impossible just might be do-able! A charming tale rooted in the unique story-telling conventions of Bollywood delivers choreography that could be entered in the Olympics set within some of the biggest hit songs to come out of Hindi film over forty years!
Miss Bollywood is a very different take on the East West cultural divide presented with the gentleness, warmth and charm that is integral to one of the worlds most popular brands of family entertainment.
Shilpa Shetty makes her theatrical debut as Maya, the Bollywood heroine abroad, who fends off impresario Nick (Nicholas Brown) stands up to leading lady Sophiya (Anousha Dandekar) romances choreographer Jay (Wayne Perrey) and appeals to the fair mind of Londons next Mayor (Peter Rylands). She does this with the help of Shruti (Swini Khara) and in spite of more help from Shurtis father, Mansukhlal (Amit Sial) and his out-there entrepreneurial brother Hasmukhlal (Anand Tiwari).
With a performing company of over 40, Miss Bollywood has all the glamour and scale of an international production with a warm and affectionate Indian heart.
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