Dream roles up for grabs

It is the revolutionary West End musical that shrugged off mixed reviews to earn more than £6 million in its first few months. Andrew Lloyd Webber's spectacular production Bombay Dreams has already been seen by more than 250,000 people in London, and is set to open on Broadway in 2004.

But the £4.5 million show has hit a surprise snag - there aren't enough professional British-Asian singers and actors to fill the cast.

The lack of Asian stage performers is such a problem that Lord Lloyd-Webber and his fellow producers are having to resort to an open audition, for actors from all over Britain, to find replacements for the current cast at the Palace Theatre.

Bombay Dreams' young male lead, Raza Jaffrey, said: "There is so much talent out there but very few members of the Asian community are encouraged to enter the performing arts industry. Those who do sometimes feel they haven't got a chance."

Sylvia Young, the woman behind Britain's most successful stage school, said there were only three or four British-Asian youngsters among her current total of 150.

Ms Young has nurtured stars including Emma Bunton, Denise van Outen, Samantha Janus - and Bombay Dreams' female lead Priya Kalidas.

Ms Young said: "It's not that there is really a lack of roles for British-Asian actors - more and more roles are becoming available.

"But I think that entering the theatre has perhaps not been seen as a major career option in some Asian families.

"It's only in recent years that we have had young Asians here and many of them show a great deal of promise."

The lack of up-and-coming young actors is not just limited to the Asian community.

Earlier this year the casting director of The Lion King travelled to the Caribbean because she could not find enough black performers in London to fill the musical's 55 roles.