“A Beat of Our Own” packs so much vitality and verve, it could rival Niagara Falls in providing pure, pulsing power.
Chock-full of movement that goes beyond traditional Indian dances, such as bhangra, or Bollywood excess to incorporate jazz, ballet, modern and freestyle riffs, the musical by Rehana Lew Mirza and Mike Lew, with music and lyrics by Sam Willmott, entertains in exhilarating style, urging one not only to watch its phenomenal performers but to participate in their spirited choreography.
From a rousing opening to a wittily exciting Bollywood takeoff and a spectacular close, “A Beat of Our Own” generates nonstop smiles, energy and joy.
The only sad thing I have to report is that this special, invigorating musical is spending a scant three weeks at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre. The hope is that it will return or land someplace nearby, New York perhaps, where it can be enjoyed again and seen by those who missed it.
For its texture and insight as well as its exuberance.
“A Beat of Our Own” has more to offer than Rujuta Vaidya’s thrilling dances, which are reward enough. Though the narrative frame Mirza and Lew build may be clichéd, with two rival Indian dance ensembles, one a splinter of the other, competing against each other in a national tournament, rich subtext abounds as the writers and Willmott explore various aspects of Indian identity and culture.
They are as thorough, if not as elegant, as Kiran Desai novels in addressing strong and lasting tribal and caste differences among Indians, whether native or from a vast diaspora; in noting how neighboring South Asians such as Nepalis, Tibetans or Pakistanis are considered Indian by people outside the region, even though they maintain their own national identities; in considering the prejudice Indians experience as immigrants, even when they represent third and fourth generations; in depicting the multiracial; in illustrating how tradition and strict adherence to it clash with assimilation, both among individuals and artistically; and in showing how those not born into a culture can enjoy and participate in it.
It’s a lot to pack into one musical, especially one that Vaidya’s dances and Stafford Arima’s pinpoint direction are working to keep relatively light, while not ignoring the endemic conflicts and issues that affect several of the characters.
Dance is juxtaposed with story as Mirza and Lew develop rivalries, romances, revenges and reconciliations among their characters, most of whom constitute the first bhangra team we see or answer the call to form a new one.
“A Beat of Our Own” is set primarily in Michigan, where the East Lansing University bhangra team has just won a collegiate state championship and is going to Chicago to compete against teams from other states in the national bhangra contest.
Trouble ensues before they can embark. Amit (Rohit B. Gopal) is the leader of the East Lansing squad, the Tigres, but he is advised and generally neutralized by the outspoken Preeti (Tara Venkataraman), who not only has dozens of questions but dozens more answers about how to make their good team better.
Preeti is a traditionalist. She, like Amit, is Punjabi, as, according to her, bhangra and its traditional moves are. She is proud of her ancestry and her unfailing knowledge of right and wrong steps in bhangra, knowledge she gleefully, if smugly, lords over the Tigres.
Teammates make fun of Preeti and complain to Amit about her, but she has a strong whip hand and allows no compromise when it comes to what she considers correct bhangra, the bhangra she and her family have practiced for decades. From Preeti’s point of view, it is the only bhangra anyone needs to know.
Mary (Salena Qureshi) has some ideas of her own. She wants to liven up tradition by adding some modern movements and gestures to bhangra.
This does not sit well with Preeti. She denigrates Mary’s suggestions and insults Mary for being half white.
Mary leaves the team, only to start another bhangra ensemble.
Mary’s recruitment flyer doesn’t call for a specific ethnicity or age, so she gets applicants from East Lansing’s entire student body. Her troupe, including a Dominican, a retired professor who knows ballroom dancing and her revolutionary roommate, Sunita (Sushma Saha), is good enough for Mary, so she starts training them, ragtag or not, to compete against Preeti’s team.
Luck is on Mary’s side. She finds out, via Sunita, that Nebraska has no entry in the Chicago national competition and decides she and her recruits will perform as that state’s team.
Like the backstage segments on shows such as “The Voice” or “Dancing With the Stars,” sequences depicting Preeti’s or Mary’s respective rehearsals don’t add much dramatically, except to bring the issues mentioned earlier to the fore and introduce the relationship between Mary and her best dancer, a Dominican named Billy (J. Antonio Rodriguez).
We watch the rivalry between Preeti’s Tigres and Mary’s team, but it is what you hear in the corners, the talk about identity and being an immigrant, that matters.
And the dances. Rujuta Vaidya’s marvelous extravaganzas give everyone in “A Beat of Our Own” the chance to shine.
Whether Preeti enforces it or not, precision and muscular dexterity are the crux of Vaidya’s consistent success. Just about anything that happens choreographically is eye-popping fun, but the skill and synchronization of Vaidya’s dances particularly please.
The plotting of “A Beat of Our Own” and the broaching of subjects of interest to Indians, and perhaps many immigrants in America, make up for the standard tone of Mirza and Lew’s dialogue and the simplicity of Willmott’s lyrics, which are often a string of declarative sentences about emotions or personal situations.
Stafford Arima helps by keeping a brisk pace and zeroing in on scenes that establish romances or need careful audience attention.
His ensemble is super.
The most fun for me to watch was Sushma Saha as Mary’s determinedly rebellious friend, Sunita. Saha not only makes following the plot fun, but by merely demonstrating a dance move, or mocking one, she does so with style and fluidity that would make the finicky Preeti happy.
Saha launches into her dances with a gusto that shows she’s having a good time performing. Her movements have the edge of her character, sharp and precise while being in total sync with the ensemble.
Tara Venkataraman is an effective Preeti, smiling beautifully through her dances yet ready to play the exacting martinet and insistent bhangra consultant, barking orders here, correcting a finger position there, explaining Punjabi tradition everywhere.
Preeti can be fairly insufferable when on her high horse, never mincing a criticism or negative comment. Yet as Venkataraman plays her, she always has a point or reason to comment, even when she does so smugly or unpleasantly. You respect Preeti even when you find her harsh and tactless in her approach to coaching and want to join others in strangling her.
Salena Qureshi is both stubborn and sensitive as Mary.
Mary may be the real rebel because, as mild and delicate as she can be, she takes action to form a troupe that might take liberties with tradition and opens bhangra to an assortment of non-Indians.
It is Mary who finds a way for her team to be professionally advised by trading labor in the consultant’s restaurant for training neither she nor her colleagues could ever afford. It is she who gets over her issues with Preeti or any aspect of competition to move forward. It is also she who usually introduces topics that address the plight of the half-Indian and other dilemmas that might impede an immigrant’s happiness in the diaspora.
Qureshi deftly balances Mary’s swings, being hurt and withdrawing one minute and fiercely activist and competitive the next.
J. Antonio Rodriguez galvanizes any scene in which he appears. He is subtle and patient in scenes in which Mary is difficult, including the scene when he knows he is falling in love with Mary.
Rodriguez has charm as an actor and as Billy. He is a calming presence but can state his mind when Billy needs to speak it. That includes a critical moment when Billy defends Mary to her restless bhangra troupe.
Rodriguez shows his dancing skills in one of “A Beat of Our Own’s” highlights, a full-out Bollywood number that takes as much energy as it exudes. Rodriguez’s muscular moves lead the way.
Stafford Arima stages the Bollywood sequence brilliantly, incorporating all the brash color you see in Indian movies and building his scene using techniques from film, such as having his actors stand and gesture on moving staircases pushed around in dancelike patterns.
Sohm Kapila is funny and oh so sharp as Rekha, a restaurant owner who knows how to combine culinary and kitchen work with inspiring novices to dance.
Rohit B. Gopal is delightfully self-effacing as Amit, who capitulates to Preeti every time she growls. Benjamin Howes is a marvel as Wallace, the retired professor who joins Mary’s troupe for a lark and, against all odds, becomes one of her finest dancers.
Wilson Chin’s sets are witty, especially when they wash the Matthews Theatre stage with vivid colors. David Bengali’s projections add to the atmosphere Chin creates. Linda Cho and Herin Kaputkin supply costumes for all occasions, dance regalia and streetwear that suit the characters perfectly. Lighting designer Jane Cox and sound designer Walter Trarbach are heroes for all they contribute. There is too much to delineate, but all of it is necessary, creative and in keeping with the wit and joy of Arima’s overall production.
“A Beat of Our Own” runs through Sunday, Oct. 25, at McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton. The production opened Friday, Oct. 16, following previews that began Wednesday, Oct. 7. For tickets and information, visit mccarter.org/abeatofourown.
