Casting is complete for the La Jolla Playhouse’s world premiere of Bhangin' It: A Bangin’ New Musical, which will play the Mandell Weiss Theatre in California March 8-April 17. Opening night is March 20.
Directed by Stafford Arima (Allegiance, Carrie), the production will feature Ari Afsar as Mary, Aryaan Arora as Mohan, Bilaal Avaz as Amit, Jesse Bhamrah as Gobind, Brandon Contreras as Billy, Laura Dadap as Constance, Henry Walter Greenberg as Noah, Jason Heil as Wallace, Terrance Johnson as Jake, Jaya Joshi as Sunita, Madison McBride as Lily, Anu Mysore as Shetal, Amey Natu as Big Bob, Alka Nayyar as Rekha, Zain Patel as Varun, Devi Peot as New Mary, Vinithra Raj as Preeti, Ramita Ravi as Shilpa, and Nikki Mirza, Gerry Tonella, and Levin Valayil as swings.
Bhangin’ It has a book by Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza, music and lyrics by Sam Willmott, and additional music by Grammy nominee Deep Singh.
Winner of the Richard Rodgers Award, the new musical concerns a young woman who finds her identity cannot be defined by checking a box and sets off on a quest to dance to her own beat. Bhangin’ It draws from competitive Bhangra and mixes it with other Indian and Western dance forms.
The production will also have choreography by Rujuta Vaidya, musical staging by Lisa Shriver, scenic design by Robert Brill, costume design by Linda Cho, lighting design by Amith Chandrashaker, sound design by Jonathan Deans, projection design by David Bengali, and dramaturgy by Natasha Sinha. The stage manager is Julianne Menassian, and the Bhangra specialist is Anushka Pushpala. Casting is by Calleri/Jensen/Davis and Jacole Kitchen.
