Wah! Wah! Girls - A British Bollywood Musical

Synopsis

East London meets Bollywood in a sparkling new musical from Sadler’s Wells, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Kneehigh, Wah! Wah! Girls. 

Inspired by the world of the Mujra dancers, who for generations have entertained the rich and powerful with a spellbinding mix of dance and song, Wah! Wah! Girls tells a passionate and playful story of love against the odds. Set against the vibrant background of the East End in 2012, these unstoppable girls uncover deep secrets and create unexpected dreams.
 
Written by acclaimed playwright Tanika Gupta (White Boy, Sugar Mummies) and directed by multi award-winning director Emma Rice (The Red Shoes, Brief Encounter), this extraordinary team of talents also includes Associate Director Pravesh Kumar (Britain’s Got Bhangra), set and costume designer Keith Khan, lighting designer Malcolm Rippeth and sound designer Simon Baker.
 
Featuring stunning dance sequences choreographed by Bollywood master Javed Sanadi and leading Kathak choreographer Gauri Sharma Tripathi, set to a mix of classic Bollywood tracks and new music by composer Niraj Chag, Wah! Wah! Girls is a feast for the senses that draws audiences into the world of the modern British-Asian community.

Let the pleasure begin! Wah! Wah!

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 6 June 2012

Ten years after Bombay Dreams opened in the West End, the souped-up Bollywood musical goes East End local in this engaging and colourful collaboration between Sadler’s Wells, Stratford East and Kneehigh as part of World Stages London.

Tanika Gupta, writing book and lyrics, aims to register the changing feminist and social dynamic in India in an East End setting: a runaway girl from Leeds, Sita, an aspiring dancer, finds her way to a Newham club owned by Soraya, with whose son, Kabir, she falls in love.

This narrative is conjured by Bindi, a jolly, audience-baiting addict of Bollywood movies, who switches on her flat screen television in defiance of her husband’s orders - and the show begins.

Bindi, like Sita and Soraya, who has a secret past in India, represents a feminist kick against tradition and repressive menfolk; this finds its greatest expression not in the show’s narrative, which needs tightening, but in the mu...

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Latest User Review

mahnaz - 7 October 2012:

http://mahnaznadeem.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/wah-wah-girls-a-modern-day-umrao-jaan-set-in-the-streets-of-london/...

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