‘Aladdin will build special connection with Indians’

Felipe Gamba is confident that Disney is exploring a whole new world with its first licensed desi production

On the magic carpet: Felipe Gamba, Director, International Production Strategy, Disney Theatrical Group (DTG)

Felipe Gamba has an enviable job. As Director, International Production Strategy, Disney Theatrical Group (DTG), he gets to travel all over the world where Disney’s productions are being staged. To put it in official lingo, “he is responsible for DTG’s international licensing business, for managing the relationship with producing partners and licensees around the world, as well as developing strategy for international growth.”

The premiere of the Indian production of Disney’s Aladdin has brought Gamba on a quick trip to Mumbai, where he watches preparations for the musical’s opening, that make him “happy and proud” with how it has turned out. India has been a relatively late entrant into the DTG family, that started travelling overseas with their productions soon after the first one in the US in 1994. A preliminary foray into the market, with Beauty And The Beast (2015), was successful. The dazzling musical proved that India was certainly ready to mount a lavish production worthy of Disney’s standards, and that the audiences were willing to pay premium ticket prices to watch a show matching the best of Broadway.

Considering India has talent and a theatregoing culture what took Disney so long to enter this market? “We always take our time before determining the level of maturity of a new market,” replies Gamba “The talent and infrastructure, of course, but also the desire of the audience to experience our style of content.” Before bringing

Beauty and the Beast to India — Mumbai and Delhi to be precise — Gamba came to India and met several people from the theatre and film industries to gauge the affinity for Disney’s content for the stage and determined that “the timing was right.” He saw many plays on his trips, “though not in the musical theatre space, because it wasn’t there. But it was a dream experiencing local theatre and getting a lot of exposure to the richness of Indian theatre. There is a wealth of artistic expression in this country,” he says.

While the first play was produced by Disney, the second,

Aladdin is by the licensing model, which means DTG provides the creative content, but the production was handed over to a local partner—in this case, the online ticketing major Bookmyshow. “This is the way we operate around the world,” Gamba explains, “We are creators of the content, but we can’t claim to understand how to position and market as well as the local partners, who are doing other productions as well; so they are in touch with the audience.”

Will DTG consider producing original Indian content? “What we do is very specific,” he says, “Broadway is the genre of our experience. We bridge the gap between the local productions and our content. We adapt films from the Walt Disney Studio for the stage, [working] within our catalogue.” But he does admit that Disney’s belief in diversity could at some point extent to India. “Like the film Coco , was so beautiful and moving. Being from Latin America myself (he is Colombian), I could appreciate the way the film portrayed the traditions of Mexico. So that it always a possibility, but the story goes first into the film space and then comes to us.”

With

Aladdin , another city has been added to the two major metros — Hyderabad. “

Beauty and the Beast was a massive undertaking. So we went back to the proscenium theatre with a production that is spectacular but on the scale that allows it to travel. The

Beauty and the Beast mode would have been too challenging, though the infrastructure in India is developing and growing in the right direction,” he shares.

Gamba says DTG hasn’t decided which production will be staged in India next. “We don’t think of what we do a corporate planning. We are theatre people; we go from project to project and see how it goes. Anywhere we go, we are not just setting expectations, we want to deliver the best possible experience. I hope and believe that Aladdin is going to build a special connection with the Indian audience.”

The Indian production of Aladdin has a lot of localised content (including some Hindi dialogue), which Gamba is sure will surprise the audience. “We have made it relevant for Indian and added elements that are unique to this country. We had an incredible creative team here. That is what is wonderful about theatre that there can be constant restructuring, while on film, once it’s done, you can’t go back and change anything. So in every country when we develop content with local partners, and see the way they interpret it. Something beautiful is created each time.”

Aladdin is being staged at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point until May 6; more details at bookmyshow.com