Bombay goes like a dream

One of the West End's biggest gambles, Bombay Dreams, appears to have paid off - and brought a new, young audience to the theatre.

Despite the recent surprise closure of Kiss Me, Kate, it was revealed today that Bombay Dreams is grossing some £500,000 a week - and is to be extended by six months.

From tomorrow tickets will go on sale for the show's extended run, which will now continue until March next year.

The show's producer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, said today: "We are very pleased. It looks like audiences are really taking to Bombay Dreams. We opened with nothing in the box office but now we are taking around £100,000 a day in advance sales."

Although critically acclaimed, Bombay Dreams - which combines Bollywood colour with traditional West End musical glitz - was seen as potentially off-putting to West End audiences more used to traditional Lloyd-Webber fare such as The Phantom of The Opera. However, those fears appear to have been groundless.

"The thrilling thing is that it has a completely different audience," Lord Lloyd-Webber told the Standard. "There is a strong Asian audience, typically around 30 per cent but rising to 50 per cent on Sundays, and a young audience too.

"I think there is a lot of word of mouth, where young Asians who have seen the show, perhaps with their families, then tell their friends and come back again. Whatever the reason, though, to stand at the back of a theatre full of such a young crowd is one of the most heartening things I have ever seen."

While the award-winning revival of Kiss Me Kate is to shut after only a year, new musicals are enjoying strong summer sales.

Lord Lloyd-Webber believes that a smash hit like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and now Bombay Dreams, revitalises audience interest across the West End.

"It even effects older shows. Phantom and Les Mis are both up at the moment, and I think that is because if people can't get a ticket for Chitty or Bombay Dreams they still want to go to the theatre."