Shakalaka Baby

Last night saw Bombay Dreams at the Fox Theatre with MJ. She had comp tickets which was an extra bonus. And, yes, it might have been a little predictable, melodramatic and cheesy. So much the better!

The song that's stuck in my head - in a good way - is Shakalaka Baby. It was the best scene. Very catchy tune, very Bollywood-esque, and best of all - there was a water feature. Think of it as India's (and Andrew Lloyd Weber's) tribute to Flashdance - or maybe Singin in the Rain.

It was a circular fountain, with water spiking up 5 feet and splashing an area of at least 10 feet in diameter. The dancers got wet, and afterwards backstage crew had to mop up the floor. The backstage crew was a handful of middle aged, white men in black shirts & black slacks. They stuck out like sore thumbs on a stage in which all performers were dressed and wigged up to look Indian (or at least closer to it than these dudes). M, who works with the Fox, told me she knew some of the mop-ley crew - which made it even more entertaining. I wonder how many of them were cursing this production and the fact that for two weeks, at least once a day, they'd be using mops and towels - with the curtain up, as the show went on - to dry off the floor.

It was amusing. And the sweet, 80-year old man sitting next to us, dressed in his Sunday best, slept through it.