Birmingham Rep has announced the cast for the UK première of Bhangra Nation—A New Musical, a “powerful and pulsating” show about competitive bhangra dancing.
The cast includes Zaynah Ahmed (Preeti), Gregory Armand (Jake), Siobhan Athwal (Sunita), Tia Antoine Charles (Lily), Lydia Danistan (Shilpa), Kyle Evans (Noah), Iván Fernández González (Billy), Kuldeep Goswami (Mohan), Bob Harms (Wallace), Raimu Itfum (Varun), RoMaya Jey (swing), Sophie Kandola (New Mary), Arysha Kelly (Shetal), Ai Kumar (Constance), Aaron Mistry (swing), Mervin Noronha (Amit), Jena Pandya (Mary), Ajay Sahota (Gobind), Edward Turner (swing) and Leo Udvarlaky (Bob).
Book is by Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza. Music and lyrics are by Sam Willmott. Stafford Arima directs and choreography is by Rujuta Vaidya. The creative team includes Michael Taylor (set design), Linda Cho (costume design), Nick Richings (lighting design), Adam Fisher (sound design), David Bengali (projection design), Rebecca Howell (additional choreography and musical staging), Parambeer Samrai (bhangra consultant), Richard Morris (musical supervision), Matthew Malone (orchestrations) and Kuljit Bhamra (additional arrangements and orchestrations).
Producers Mara Isaacs and Tom Kirdahy said, “Bhangra Nation—A New Musical is a joyful, exuberant celebration of bhangra and a deeply felt exploration of identity and community among young people finding their own way forward in the world. We can’t imagine a better home to help launch Bhangra Nation in the UK than in Birmingham.”
The Rep’s artistic director Sean Foley added, “in a city that has a claim to be the modern centre of bhangra, I’m looking forward to seeing the show connecting with both our South Asian communities and with all audiences looking for a great night out.”
The show originally premièred at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in 2022 under the title Bhangin’ It.
Bhangra Nation—A New Musical will run at Birmingham Rep from 17 February until 16 March 2024.