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<p><strong>When:</strong> Aug. 4-6</p><br><section class="article-content__content-group article-content__content-group--story"><p><strong>Where:</strong> Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 630 Hamilton St., Vancouver</p><p><br></p><p></p><p data-async=""><strong>Tickets:</strong> From $99-$499 at <a data-evt-val="{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "cinemaonstage.com", "target_url": "http://cinemaonstage.com", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}" data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="http://cinemaonstage.com">cinemaonstage.com</a> and <a data-evt-val="{"control_fields": {"mparticle": {"keys": {"click_source_type": "click_source_type", "anchor_text": "anchor_text", "target_url": "target_url", "layout_section": "layout_section"}, "mp_event_type": "Navigation", "extra_keys": ["click_vertical_position_percentage", "click_vertical_position_pixels"]}}, "click_source_type": "in-page link", "anchor_text": "vancouvercivictheatres.com", "target_url": "http://vancouvercivictheatres.com", "layout_section": "in-page-link"}" data-evt="click" data-evt-typ="click" href="http://vancouvercivictheatres.com">vancouvercivictheatres.com</a></p><p data-async=""><br></p><p></p><p>India’s first Broadway-style musical, Mughal E Azam, is an epic love story about a prince and a court dancer. The stage production, which has toured all over Asia, showcases Kathak dances, Indian classical music, big-budget lighting and extravagant costumes.</p><p><br></p><p>We talked to Aanand Dawda, producer of the North American tour of Mughal E Azam, about the show:</p><p></p><p><strong>Q: Did this show fall into your lap or did you pursue it?</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>A:</strong> I’ve been a professional event manager for about 20 years now. We were looking for a good musical. And when I saw this in India in 2017, I decided that one day I want to bring this to North America. I happened to be in India again last year, and that’s where the conversation again started. And here we are.</p><p><br></p><p></p><p><strong>Q: What did it take to bring the show to North America? How complicated a process was it?</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>A:</strong> Usually the musical is in venues for a few weeks or a few months. The challenging part here was to conceptualize it in a touring format. And to travel with this kind of production, from city to city, we are on eight or nine trucks. We have about 150 people travelling with us. And then we had to route the tour correctly, to get the venues for the whole week, because it takes about four days for us to set up the show before performing it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday or Saturday and Sunday. But we are up to the task. We are very experienced in this part of the world. We had already done a lot of rock-‘n’-roll shows and have good relationships with the venues and the technical vendors and technicians. It wasn’t easy, but we are pulling it through. We’ve finished nine cities and are already on to the 10th, in Seattle. And then we come to Vancouver next.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Q: Is the show different in North America than what people in other countries would have seen?</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>A:</strong> The production, the content, remains the same. It is a little more upscale because it’s a 3 1/2-month-long tour so we have to kind of carry the shadow cast members and extra crew members. We also have a doctor travelling and a physio travelling with us as well.</p><p><br></p><p></p><p><strong>Q: The musical is based on the eponymous 1960 film that is quite well known in India. Is it also known in other parts of the world?</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>A:</strong> It’s quite well-renowned across the world, wherever Indians are. It’s kind of a benchmark for Bollywood movies, in that they are often categorized as pre- or post-Mughal E Azam. The music, the quality of production, the storyline, the scale of the process — it took about seven years to make the movie. It was one of the biggest hits of that time. In today’s terms, it would be one of the highest-grossing films ever.</p><p><br></p><p></p><p><strong>Q: What are you seeing in the audiences that are coming out? Is it mostly the Indian diaspora or is it more mixed?</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>A:</strong> Most of it is Indian or Southeast Asian, like Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi diaspora. We want the non-Southeast Asian diaspora to come and see the show too. We have side screens for English subtitles. And music remains music, we also go and enjoy a lot of North American musicals or Chinese musicals. We welcome everybody from every race or caste or religion, and we guarantee that they will love the musical and appreciate the scale of the show.</p><p></p><p></p></section><p></p>
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