Curtain Call

Leila Alvares tells PUJA GOYAL what it takes to stage a musical in Bangalore

(c) Puja Goyal

The CAUSE Foundation presents a reinvention of its very first musical performance - "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" from the 3rd to the 6th of August 2007 at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall.

Getting into theatre: Getting into theatre was a chance thing. I am a classical pianist. My major interests were always related to doing something with music. My first production at the age of 18 was a production containing music and dances of different eras. While pursuing a Masters in Industrial Psychology, (now known as HR), in the States; I watched a lot of musicals and "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat" was one of them. It was beautiful and I had to stage it at some point in my life.

Differences between musicals abroad and in India: One of the major differences is: they have money and we don’t. Our talent is amazing and even better in some parts. We sacrifice a lot in terms of sets and costumes while they don’t. Lack of finances is a major detriment to a good production. You have to compromise all the time.

My first musical: Joseph… was my first full fledged musical ten years ago, which I am staging again. Then there was "Crescendo" which featured songs from the beginning of music era in the 1910's to 1980's. It was a blast!

More musicals when compared to stage drama, is it a conscious effort and why: It is not a conscious effort; it is a choosy effort. I am not fond of dramas; I like musicals simply because I am a musician first. I had a choir once upon a time and we used to sing in churches and weddings. It was fun. I only watch dramas when a friend says "you have to come and watch".

Teething problems in establishing the foundation: I had no problems establishing this… the only problem I face every year has to do with money. The entertainment tax that was levied then was a big nuisance. We don’t have money for our show how can we pay tax on tickets that aren't even sold. Yesterday, I had to deal with this guy who asked us to reprint tickets because of some formatting issues… Luckily a good friend in the department informed us that there is no entertainment tax anymore. They thought I was staging a musical concert like the ones held by Daler Mehdi and Aerosmith; they need to realize this is a musical drama and it's different.

Most productions don’t treat cast salary as expense, comment… Our productions are always for charity and it becomes impossible to pay the cast; but as a token, we have given them travel allowance. This is not payment. I cannot comment on other people's productions.

Tell us a little about "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat". Most of the cast is different and sets have improved. Now we have more experience. Sets were tacky then and the performance was great. Now both are fantastic! Today, I have contacts and I can pay people after the show. At that point we had to pay everyone in advance. The lyrics and dances are also up-to-date.

The play is a hilarious spoof on the original biblical story of Joseph and his meteoric rise to fame in Pharaoh’s court in ancient Egypt despite his 11 brother’s evil plan to get rid of him. It has no dialogues and is a pure musical. It contains songs and dances of every genre from rock n roll to country to rap.

What is the basic essence of a good musical? Tuneful songs good dance sequences, entertaining and lively, obviously cast need to contain better singers than actors. Musicians have to be good.