BENGALURU: Peppa Pig, one of the most loved children’s animated characters, is all set to arrive in Bengaluru, in an avatar that’s bigger than before. BookMyShow and Viacom18 Live are bringing a Peppa Pig Musical to namma Ooru, complete with life-sized characters, elaborate costumes, giant bouncing balls, new songs and many surprises for fans. Dilshad Khurana, the musical’s director, promises the show will be a complete family entertainer with “loads of laughter, singing, dancing and of course, seeing their favourite pig family on stage live in front of them.”
While primarily an animated series for children, the musical elements of the upcoming theatrical production aim to cater to all age groups as a slice of life series instead. The writer, voice-over artist and director – who has previously worked with various directors like Makarand Deshpande, Akarsh Khurana, Sunil Shanbag and Manav Kaul in various English, Hindi and Gujarati plays – is also familiar with productions for children, having co-directed a children’s play called Natkhat Krishna, along with plays for some schools as well. Khurana has been involved with performance arts since 2000.
Though she is aware of the popularity of Peppa Pig, research for the musical needed more effort. Since the musical is the official franchise of the stage show that was conceived and performed in the UK, and has also been performed in USA and Asia, work for its Indian counterpart meant watching videos of the original live musical as well. Besides this, the cast and crew also watched the cartoons to pick up the nuances of each character. Khurana explains, “Fans of the Peppa Pig series are familiar with the unique and character-specific voice and characteristics of Peppa’s world, so it was very important to stick to key elements to maintain authenticity.”
As someone familiar with the cartoon, she admits that like children, she too has been drawn to the themes and the story of the series. And it is these life lessons that she believes contribute to the popularity of Peppa Pig, not just a mong children, but parents as well. “From the importance of cleanliness, to doing tasks together, the world of Peppa Pig uses day-to-day situations explained in a child-friendly story format to inculcate key social messaging,” she says, adding that the musical too will try to follow the same brief. Khurana explains this with a particular scene that stayed with her, one where the family gets lost, but use the incident to put their heads together and find their way back, thus emphasising the importance of teamwork.
The musical, which has been choreographed by Bertwin D’Sousza, made its India debut in Mumbai on November 14. This was followed by shows in Delhi and Chennai but the common factor among all, says Kumar Razdan, head, Theatricals, BookMyShow, is the response they received, with kids jumping up from their seats and lining up next to the stage to get close to the action. “We’ve seen them wave and dance in the auditorium and cry when they have to leave. Seeing their favourite character and idol up, close and life-size in front of their eyes has been a dream come true for the little ones,” he says. The Peppa Pig Musical will take place at Dr BR Ambedkar Bhavan on January 11 and 12.