The Indian Broadway version of timeless classic "Beauty and the Beast" will come alive on the stage in the country once again, in Mumbai and Delhi later this year. The "experiment" of bringing a "new genre of entertainment" worked, says Disney India managing director Siddharth Roy Kapur, who hopes to continue entertaining the audience with the "larger than life" format.
Over 100 of the best musical theatre performers in India brought the story of "Beauty and the Beast" alive on stage, with world class production values, lavish sets and gorgeous costumes in Delhi and Mumbai last year.
The second run will be staged at the same venues as before - Dome @ NSCI in Mumbai in May and at Thyagaraj Sports Complex in Delhi in June. The bookings will go live on Wednesday.
Kapur asserts that they plan to introduce more shows with stories that resonate with India as well as travel to other cities soon.
"It was definitely an experiment and it was the first time that we were doing a Broadway style musical on that scale and with that sets, costumes, and the cast - everything was larger than life that India has ever seen," Kapur told IANS over phone from Mumbai.
"We believed that Indians were ready for this sort of experiences and we are so glad that the experiment was such a huge success and what that really means for us is that we have been able to pioneer a new genre in entertainment that we are really looking forward to be able to continue with it," Kapur added.
After the first season "went off really well" with sold out shows in both cities, they want to bring back the magic of the show for the people who weren't able to watch it for the first time.
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"This is really a chance for all of them to be able to catch up on it".
What about new shows?
"If the venues permit, we would like to launch a new show every 12 to 18 months. There are so many great Disney musicals that we can bring to a stage here in India. And what we would like to do probably sometime in 2017 as it is a little early right now.
"We would like to launch our next show, but we would also like to continue with 'Beauty and the Beast' and take it to many other cities as well," he added, pointing out that Disney would like to stage the show in cities like Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
"We have so many cities where we have an audience who will appreciate the medium like this, but unfortunately infrastructure is underdeveloped."
Talking about the possible shows that they can explore, Kapur said: "'The Jungle Book' and 'Aladdin' are the two obvious examples of the ones that are close to our culture, but I think we are going to keep ourselves open to something that resonates with India. We would tap into great works, but it will always be with the local cast and crew."