Review: Frankie Goes to Bollywood

“Frankie Goes to Bollywood” is the story of a young woman who finds herself unexpectedly plucked from obscurity and thrown into the world of Bollywood stardom when her talent is spotted at an audition she only attended to support her best friend and ‘cousin-sister’ Goldy. What follows is a fast-paced, funny and emotional journey through the highs and lows of an actor’s life, specifically female actors, on the Bollywood scene.

Laila Zaidi is stunning as Frankie. Armed with amiability and charm, a beautiful singing voice and a confident stage presence, she tackles the family dominated Bollywood hierarchy head on, exposing many of the corruptions and injustices at its heart as she does. Bollywood is the biggest film industry in the world, and this musical is inspired by real stories of British women caught in the glare of its shine. This fish out of water element of the story really resonates, with Frankie observing how she feels too brown to be British in the UK, and too British to be brown in India.

Katie Stasi as her best friend Goldy is a powerhouse performer with a singing voice that blew the roof off the Watford Palace Theatre more than once, most notably in her 11 o’clock ballad. Indeed, the female characters carry the emotional heart of the show, as it’s their struggles against the patriarchal Bollywood film structure which objectify and limit them that provide the central conflicts. This is powerfully represented in the character of Malika, a feisty older actress played with serpentine venom by Helen K Wint. Malika extols the virtues of being less kind and instead celebrating your inner 'b*tch' in a song which pointedly draws out the contradictory demands faced by female performers who want to make it to the top and stay there. You need to exude beauty, but you have to be ruthless, too.

There is ample comedy throughout, especially in funny visual gags that send up the stereotypes of Bollywood films, from rose petals falling from the sky to fans used to cause hair and saris to billow romantically in the wind. There is subtler humour as well (keep your eyes peeled for a cleverly positioned Reduced Indian Film Company gag) but for me the belly laughs came from two of the male characters: Raju King, the pot-bellied, preening male lead significantly past his prime played with gusto by Shakil Hussain, and the outrageously camp choreographer Shona, played by Gigi Zahir, whose dazzlingly flamboyant costumes deserve to be persevered for posterity in the V&A. Both actors imbued their characters with subtlety and depth, turning what could have been cardboard cut out pantomime villains into layered, flawed and complex human beings.

The hardworking ensemble were jaw-droppingly terrific. Dashing back and forth across the stage in frenetic choreography, every time they appeared from the wings they were dancing, moving props, singing and dazzling, all while having changed costume in what seemed an impossibly small period of time.

The music, performed by a live band, blends Bollywood styles with traditional Western musical theatre sounds such that you’re never in doubt of the show’s hybrid context and never alienated from one world or the other. Similarly, the stage was presided over by three luminous pavilion arches that flashed a whole rainbow spectrum of colours across the course of the evening, bringing Indian architectural style into perfect harmony with the proscenium arch tradition of Western theatre.

With concept and book by Rifco Artistic Director Pravesh Kumar MBE, and songs by Niraj Chag and Tasha Taylor Johnson, this is billed as Rifco’s most ambitious musical to date, and you can see why. The audience, many of whom dressed up to the nines in radiant Indian traditional dress, gave this world premiere a celebratory feel before the show even started. That feeling was more than deserved by the curtain call. Watford is extremely fortunate to have this vibrant company bring so much exuberance to our cultural landscape. A highly recommended entertainment for musical lovers of all stripes.

Run-time: 2 hours 20 mins apprx (incl. interval)

Age suitability & content warning: 11+ recommended. Contains flashing lights and vaping.