Jena Pandya and Iván Fernández González in Bhangra Nation at Birmingham Rep. Picture: Craig Sugden
Bhangra Nation continues at Birmingham Rep until 16 March 2024.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
At the opening of the new musical Bhangra Nation, we are immediately immersed in a full-throttle Bhangra dance routine. Flowing rhythms, driving beats on the dhol (the popular Bhangra drum), bright costumes and of course, the moves. But in the midst of the routine, the beat changes to something more… Western? Is it hip-hop? Who cares? It works and the piece comes to a rousing finale. It’s only then that we discover that this is a college campus in Michigan and the talented troupe of dancers all attend East Lansing University.
It turns out that competitive Bhangra is almost as popular as cheerleading in the US and a whole network of college competitions, leading to a championship final at Bhangra Nation, is a major event.
The musical is the brainchild of composer and lyricist Sam Willmott and book writers Rehana Lew Mirza and Mike Lew. It began life in the US, directed by Stafford Arima, and after several changes (it was originally titled Bhangin’ It) he has brought it to the Birmingham Rep. The story pays homage to many college rites-of-passage movies, but several distinct differences make Bhangra Nation stand out, not least that its main protagonists are two young women, striving to reconcile with the past.
Mary (Jena Pandya) and Preeti (Zaynah Ahmed) are on the successful team that wins the Michigan finals, but they have very different views on how the group should move forward. Preeti is Punjabi and feels that the Western additions are diluting the fundamental language of Bhangra. Mary is bi-racial and wants to incorporate other South East Asian dance moves into the routine. It’s a culture clash that raises tempers and eventually Mary splits, disheartened but determined to develop her own routines. For this, she sets up an alternative troupe and unwittingly becomes a rival to Preeti’s team at the final.
Written with plenty of comedy moments, the writers ground their laughs in believable characters and genuinely contentious situations. The real joy however is in Willmott’s splendidly diverse score which fuses Bhangra and Broadway. Gentle but quietly sophisticated musical numbers such as ‘Toledo’, exploring the need to fit in, sit easily with the big, showy production numbers like the explosive ‘Khaana Khaana’. There are also two predominantly dance numbers – ‘The Momtra’ and ‘The Preeti Ballet’ – that lend depth to the argument of the story. Both very different, they are enhanced by the versatility of Michael Taylor’s deceptively simple set design but more importantly feed the narrative. In a musical ostensibly about dance, the choreography must be allowed to tell the important parts of the story – think ‘The Music and the Mirror’ in A Chorus Line – or anything directed by Bob Fosse.
The relatively large and energetic cast creates a real sense of competition. There’s a real oddball mix of characters too, from quirky fashionista Constance (Ai Kumar) to Kyle Evans’ frat boy Noah. Siobhan Athwal is agreeably pushy as Mary’s flatmate Sunita and Sohm Kapila is suitably OTT as the glamorous ex-Bollywood star Rekha, who takes an unorthodox approach to coaching Mary’s new troupe. The heart of this story however belongs to Mary and Preeti, with Pandya and Ahmed both proving they have the character and vocal power to carry a show. Of course, Bhangra is all about teamwork and Arima’s cast pulls together to make Bhangra Nation one of the most quirky, infectious and entertaining new musicals of the year.
June Brice
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