This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour saw Bhangra Nation at the invite of Birmingham Rep.
BrumHour has a special code for £10 tickets (Plus £2.50 booking fee for the transaction) for three performances of Bhangra Nation. Use Code BRUMHOUR for Monday 4th, Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th March 2024 for the 7.30pm performance at Birmingham Rep. Book here: birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/bhangra-nation-a-new-musical.
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
This production features some strong language.
Review: Bhangra Nation at Birmingham Rep
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐A huge hit!
Directed by Stafford Arima, written by Rehana Lew Mirza and Mike Lew with music and lyrics by
Sam Willmott
If you ask me there aren’t enough Broadway-style musicals about Bhangra dance competitions set in Michigan, United States.
American student Mary (Jena Pandya) quits the Bhangra team, T.I.G.R.E.S, that she has helped get to a national contest after a chance comment from her teammate Preeti (Zaynah Ahmed). Mary’s roommate Sunita (Siobhan Athwal) helps her form a new team The Wood Ducks.
Then to her horror, Sunita announces that Wood Ducks will also be attending the national contest as finalists. The death of Mary’s Indian-born mother still haunts her as she navigates her own identity within her new Bhangra group.
Bhangra Nation is a welcoming blast of colour, energy and character onto the Birmingham Rep stage as it swiftly introduces the audience to almost twenty characters. Sure, we only learn surface things about some of the characters initially but later on we start to get to know some of them a lot better.
The music is fun and very energetic even when it gets close to a love song there is still a pace it is happy to maintain. The vocals are dreamy at times and the dancing is excellent. It’s clear this team have worked long hours to gel together and they do it with confidence and huge excitement.
The large walls of the set are filled with secrets and most of the time represent a grey stone-built university this allows the costumes and traditional Indian clothing to punch out from the stage even more.
Jena Pandya is excellent as our lead whilst Iván Fernández González is charming as her unexpected love interest, Billy. Sohm Kapila steals the stage every time she appears as Rekha playing directly to the audience. There are even a few Birmingham shoutouts for good measure.
Ultimately this show is about performance and understanding your role in a team. And it hits a home run doing so! (See I know American stuff!)
This is a fun-filled two hours and ten minutes that I highly recommend to anyone who loves dance and musicals. A bright burst of energy, Birmingham, Bhangra Nation is at Birmingham Rep until 16th March 2023. Book tickets here: birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/bhangra-nation-a-new-musical.
