SYAL TO MAKE 'KITTY' ROLE HER OWN IN BOMBAY DREAMS
(8 March 2004)

Actress and author, Meera Syal is to guest star as 'Kitty' the celebrity gossip columnist, in A R Rahman's musical Bombay Dreams. Syal will tread the floorboards at the Apollo Victoria Theatre for one week only, from March 16th, taking on the role of the 'catty Kitty' whose on-stage career slowly descends into the gutter.

In contrast, Syal, who wrote the book for Bombay Dreams, is recognised as one of the most influential British Asian stars in the UK. Currently playing 'Sushila', the granny in "The Kumar's at No 42", Syal shot to fame with the ground breaking series "Goodness Gracious Me", as well as the hit movie "Anita & Me", an adaptation of her award-winning book of the same name.

2004 is set to be another landmark year for Bombay Dreams, with the show set to open on Broadway in March, as well as having already been seen by over ONE MILLION people at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, London. The amazing success of the show in a period that has been tough for tourism and theatre in general, is a true indication of the popularity of Bollywood across the board.

"BOMBAY DREAMS", which has music by A R Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and a book by Meera Syal, is based on an original idea by Shekhar Kapur and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The cast is led by Stephen Rahman-Hughes as 'Akaash' and Zehra Naqvi as 'Priya', together with Ravin J Ganatra as 'Madan', Munir Khairdin as 'Vikram', Royce Ullah as 'JK', Raj Ghatak as 'Sweetie' and Sophiya Haque as 'Rani'.

"BOMBAY DREAMS" is directed by Steven Pimlott, with production design by Mark Thompson, Bollywood dance sequences choreographed by Farah Khan and Anthony Van Laast and musical supervision is by Christopher Nightingale.