After enthralling the audience with their first Broadway show in Mumbai, Disney India plans to bring the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast to Delhi in December. Riya Sharma reports
Belle wanted nothing but freedom of her loving father from the beast. But, he trades her freedom for her father’s. He also makes her promise that she would stay with him and after seeing his sick father would come back on a specific day. Though she is not able to keep the promise made to the beast but she transforms him into a handsome prince as they live happily after.
Who hasn’t read or watched the lovely fairy tale Beauty and the BeastIJ But, there have been numerous times when all of us have dreamt and wondered how would it look if we see it liveIJ Not only has Disney India made it possible but they have managed to bring a spectacular and grand broadway first time ever in India.
“We have always been looking at opportunities to create some unique kind of experiences for our Indian audience. Till now, we have been doing that in terms of our content. But, somewhere we believed that the thrill of a live experience of watching tv or movies is something different. That is why we thought of bringing live entertainment to India,” said Siddharth Roy Kapur, managing director of Disney India.
He added, “Today, India has the potential to watch great things but the option of avenues available were a few. If a family wants to do something together, then what is the option available for themIJ They can either go to a mall or theme parks. So, we felt this would be like a unique experience for Indian families.”
For the lead cast, Edwin Joseph and Meher Mistry have been roped in. Kapur during the press conference said that though we have a lot of raw talent but we still lack in trained talent. “There is a tremendous amount of talent in the country but it is raw. We hope that with this, we will open new avenue market, and a platform where people can showcase their talent simultaneously,” he said.
As music plays an important role in any broadway, lesley lewis shared with us that it was magical for him to compose for it. “All my life, I wanted to do music in theatres like this, but with time that actually became impossible. When I used to go to see broadway in New York, I had this feeling - India had no chance. But, one fine day, Disney came and said- Do you want to be a part of itIJ I replied, only if you let me do it my way and they agreed,” he shared.
Talking about the difficulty that he faced while composing for the musical, he shared, “The most difficult part was to keep the sound exactly the same as Disney. People think that I have not composed but they don’t realise that I have done everything from the scratch.”