Broadway Diary

Neil Shastri's Broadway show ends

Neil (right) and Manu Narayan, star of "Bombay Dreams"

Neil Shastri's first role in a hit Broadway show is over after 11 months in New York. He's now back home in St. Louis looking ahead to being a young kid again--at least for a while.

Twelve-year-old Neil went to New York last February when he won a role in the international musical, "Bombay Dreams." That's a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber that played in London for two years.

The play was then adapted for the New York stage and Neil was included in the American cast.

The musical was set in the motion picture community in India, which is called Bollywood. Both Neil's parents are from India so he fit the cast profile. Also, Neil had had extensive entertaining experience through The Muny and other groups.

The New York musical's last performance was Jan. 1, 2005.

Neil and the cast at the closing night party

Neil said the end of his stay in New York was sad in one way. "I'm going to miss all my new friends in New York," he said.

But, he said the show's closing now means "I can go on to do better things."

He definitely wants to stay in the entertainment business. Before driving back to St. Louis with his parents, Neil auditioned for future roles. One audition was for a proposed off-Broadway musical based on the 1990 movie, "Crybaby." It starred Johnny Depp.

During his stay in New York, Neil and his mother, JJ, had a downtown apartment. He was just five-minutes walk from the theater where "Bombay Dreams" was performed.

Neil said his whole stay in New York was a great experience. "To be here this long, being in the show and meeting all the new people," he said.

Neil and A R Rahman, composer of "Bombay Dreams"

Most of his time was linked closely with the show. There were performances every day but Monday. And, on Tuesday and Saturday, there were two performances, one a matinee and the other at night.

Neil said he was in the cast almost every day. "I only missed a few because I was sick," he said.

He said that heavy show schedule meant "I didn't get to do much sightseeing." Neil did see the Statue of Liberty and the site of the World Trade Center but only from a car while taking a trip to New Jersey.

In addition to his role in "Bombay Dreams," Neil did get a small part in a movie filmed last year. It was titled "Little Manhattan" and was a love story about a boy and a girl. "I wasn't the boy; I was one of his classmates," he added.

He also auditioned for ad commercials and voice-overs. He said his agent worked hard to get him additional work.

One possibility for future work is with a traveling version of "Bombay Dreams." Neil said he would be interested and he would hope to have the same role as on Broadway.

However, the traveling show probably wouldn't be put together for a year or so.

Neil has been keeping up with his schoolwork through on-line classes. The Lauren Springs School from California is for young actors who can't go to regular classes.

He said he will continue to take those on-line classes through this school year.

Then, he said, "If I'm not doing anything in New York next fall, I'll go to my regular school in St. Louis." In the fall, he'd be an 8th grader at Sperreng Middle School in the Lindbergh School District.

In St. Louis, he plans to do all the regular things he wasn't able to do when he was working in New York.

"I'm going to go to places I haven't gone to in a long time. I'm going to ride my bike and be with my friends," he said.

Neil said he had virtually no bad experiences in New York.

"Of course, in the show I had some trips and falls. There was one time I went on stage too early. I just made a big circle on the stage and came off," he said.

Neil said he didn't think the audience would have even noticed the error. But, he said several of the cast members "asked me what I was doing."

For now, Neil will be doing the things that 12-year-olds in St. Louis do. But, he plans to be on the lookout for other chances to advance his career in the entertainment field.

(For two earlier Broadway Diary articles about Neil's experiences, see Neil's Broadway debut is "awesome" from June 2004 and Neil Shastri makes Broadway debut from May 2004.)