Aditya Chopra’s Broadway-bound musical Come Fall In Love- The DDLJ Musical is trying to tell an important and a relevant story in today’s times. It is about celebrating love and how it can unify people and cultures and break down all barriers. The musical has started its performances at the prestigious The Old Globe theatre in San Diego, and the musical has been receiving standing ovations from audiences every single night! Come Fall In Love marks Aditya Chopra’s debut as a director of a musical on stage, and his wife, Rani Mukerji, is traveling to San Diego to watch Come Fall In Love- The DDLJ Musical this weekend and cheer for Adi and the entire team of the production!
Come Fall In Love, the musical, is about the need for cultural unification in a growingly divisive and toxic world. It is about celebrating inclusivity and diversity in a world that’s getting polarised by the minute.
In Come Fall in Love – The DDLJ Musical, director Aditya Chopra takes a fresh and exciting new look at his hit famous film, renewing it for a new generation and in a new format. With an American audience in mind, he moves the action of the early scenes to America and not England as in the film. He focuses the story more precisely on Simran’s experience, adding gravity and power to her journey. Chopra said, “Come Fall In Love is the story of Simran, an Indian American. She’s at the center of the musical tale as she struggles to balance her love for Indian tradition and her family with her love for Roger. He is a white American man who falls madly in love with Simran and falls in love with her culture and our country. He aspires towards India and find a new version of himself in India’s energy values in a way of life.”
He added, “I’m not directing DDLJ for Broadway. I’m adapting it as Come Fall In Love to tell the story of how powerful love is in unifying cultures, especially today. In 2022, the notion that DDLJ could be adapted to present a vision of diverse cultures coming together in a story that celebrates love and its power to unify everyone moves me greatly.”
Come Fall In Love has many firsts for India and Indians. For the first time, an Indian director, Aditya Chopra, debuts on Broadway. It is also the first Bollywood musical set to be on Broadway. It has Vishal and Sheykhar debuting, too, as composers. Shruti Merchant will do her first Broadway musical as Associate Choreographer. The show champions diversity, and every department, from cast to technicians, is a beautiful confluence of East and West as Indian and South Asian representation is at the heart of this show.
The musical also has 18 original English songs to treat audiences with, and the makers reveal that they also have a beautiful song ‘Love In Every Colour’ that celebrates the theme of inclusivity through the show.
Aditya Chopra directs a cast of 30, which includes Shoba Narayan as Simran (Broadway’s Disney’s Aladdin as Princess Jasmine), Austin Colby as Rog Mandel (North American Tour of Disney’s Frozen the Musical as Hans, Off-Broadway’s Jersey Boys as Bob Gaudio), Irvine Iqbal as Baldev (West End’s Disney’s Aladdin as The Sultan), Rupal Pujara as Lajjo (Walnut Street Theatre’s In the Heights), Vishal Vaidya as Ajit (Encore’s Road Show), Siddharth Menon as Kuljt (India’s Disney’s Aladdin as Aladdin), ), Kate Loprest as Emily “Minky” Soulard (Broadway’s First Date, Hairspray), Juice Mackins as Ben (Broadway’s The Prom), Hannah Jewel Kohn as Cookie (North American Tour of Disney’s Frozen The Musical), Jeremy Kushnier as Roger Mandel, Sr. (Broadway’s Footloose as Ren McCormack, Rent as Roger Davis), Amita Batra as Ensemble (Amit Patel & Ishika Seth’s Unearthed: Untold Stories of the Ramayana), Neha Dharmapuram as Ensemble (M.S. in Marketing Intelligence from Fordham University), Tiffany Engen as Ensemble (Broadway’s Legally Blonde), Rohit Gijare as Ensemble (Bollywood Blvd at Lincoln Center), Marc A. Heitzman as Ensemble (Broadway’s Bandstand), Usman Ali Ishaq as Ensemble (Signature Theatre’s RENT), Nika Lindsay as Ensemble (North American Tour of Disney’s Frozen The Musical), Ilda Mason as Ensemble (West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg), Caleb Mathura as Ensemble (Jesus Christ Superstar at Timber Lake Playhouse), Meher Mistry as Ensemble (India’s Disney’s Beauty and the Beast as Belle), Shannon Mullen as Ensemble (Broadway’s A Bronx Tale), Shahil Patel as Ensemble (Off-Broadway’s Fairycakes), Zain Patel as Ensemble (La Jolla Playhouse’s Bhangin’ It: A Bangin’ New Musical), Becca Petersen as Ensemble (Broadway’s Mean Girls), Kinshuk Sen as Ensemble (Much Ado About Nothing at UCLA’s Shakespeare Theater Company), Jack Sippel as Ensemble (Broadway’s The Prom), Michael Starr as Ensemble (First National Tour of Bright Star), Geatali Tampy as Ensemble (Bollywood Blvd at Lincoln Center), and Sonya Venugopal as Ensemble (Musical Theatreworks’ Evita.
In addition to Aditya, Ashford, Benjamin, Dadlani & Ravjiani, the Come Fall in Love – The DDLJ Musical creative team includes set design by Emmy and Tony Award winner Derek McLane (MJ The Musical, Moulin Rouge!, Hairspray Live!), costume design by Tony Award winner Linda Cho (A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder), lighting design by five-time Tony Award nominee Japhy Wiedeman (Dear Evan Hansen, The Visit), sound design by Tony Award winner Jessica Paz (Hadestown), projection design by Akhila Krishhnan (National Theatre’s Our Generation), music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by David Holcenberg (MJ The Musical, Matilda The Musical), music direction by Ted Arthur (Broadway’s Diana), associate director, Stephen Sposito (Broadway’s The Book of Mormon, Wicked), associate choreographer Shruti Merchant (Dhoom 1, 2 and 3), casting is by Duncan Stewart of Stewart/Whitley casting (Hadestown, Chicago The Musical) and Yash Raj Films casting head Shanoo Sharma (Ek Tha Tiger, Gunday, Fan), and production stage manager Anjee Nero (Almost Famous, The Heart of Rock & Roll).
Mr. Chopra said, “In making a new ‘DDLJ’ for a new moment and a new audience, I’ve departed from some aspects of the film that our fans revere. But I believe that the heart of ‘Come Fall In Love’ beats with everything that is essential in ‘DDLJ’ even as it speaks, sings, and dances to this moment, in a different place and time, with hope, optimism, and love.
“I am thrilled to be making not only my stage debut but my American debut. Come Fall in Love with all new English songs by Indian composers Vishal & Sheykhar has allowed me to revisit my original vision for DDLJ and share with audiences this love story between an American man and an Indian woman. Come Fall in Love is truly an expansion of the success story of DDLJ. Any lover of the film will rediscover its beauty, and the English-speaking world will fall in love with Rog, Simran, and India. Bollywood and Broadway will meet for an exciting theatrical experience.”
Come Fall in Love officially opens at The Old Globe in San Diego on September 14th and runs through October 16th, and then moving on to Broadway!
