The Jamshed Bhabha Theatre is a 1109-seater theatre inaugurated on 24 November 1999 within The National Centre for the Performing Arts premises in Mumbai, India. It has hosted & staged Indian epics and classical concerts to western operas and ballets.
Besides the main auditorium, the theatre has three conference rooms, large foyer spaces and a museum. The acoustics of this theatre were designed to permit appreciation of individual instruments without any additional amplification. [1]
The theatre is home to a 100-year-old staircase in its foyer. The staircase was donated to the NCPA by the Petit family. It was originally part of the Petit hall at Malabar Hill, made of Carrara marble shipped from Italy. When the Petit hall was demolished, the staircase was dismantled and stored in a warehouse for forty years until it was re-assembled and added to the theatre's foyer. [1]
A new, permanent exhibition located in the foyer of JBT, which opened to the public on 16 May 2018, pays tribute to the life and legacy of Jamshed Bhabha. [2] In 2016, the theatre hosted the first public shows of Mughal-e-Azam, a Broadway-style musical directed by Feroz Abbas Khan and jointly produced by Shapoorji Pallonji Group and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (India). The musical is based on the 1960 Bollywood film Mughal-e-Azam , directed by K. Asif and produced by Shapoorji Pallonji. [3] In 2019, the theatre produced and premiered the Agatha Christie whodunnit classic, The Mirror Crack'd [4] directed by Melly Still, produced by Pádraig Cusack, in a new version for an Indian audience by Ayeesha Menon, [5] based on the adaptation by Rachel Wagstaff of the novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side , and starring Sonali Kulkarni, Denzil Smith and Shernaz Patel.
Mughal-e-Azam is a 1960 Indian epic historical drama film produced and directed by K. Asif. Starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote, it follows the love affair between Mughal Prince Salim and Anarkali, a court dancer. Salim's father, Emperor Akbar, disapproves of the relationship, which leads to a war between father and son.
The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is a multi-venue, multi-purpose cultural centre in Mumbai, India, which aims to promote and preserve India's heritage of music, dance, theatre, film, literature and photography. It also presents new and innovative work in the performing arts field.
The Tata Theatre is a 1010-seat premier staging facility for music, dance and drama at The National Centre for the Performing Arts complex in the city of Mumbai, India. It is India’s first theatre designed and built keeping in mind the unique acoustic and visual requirements for the staging of Indian music, dance and related art forms, and was constructed by Larsen & Toubro Limited. The theatre was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi on the 11 of October 1980.
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Feroz Abbas Khan is an Indian theatre and film director, playwright and screenwriter, who is most known for directing plays like Mughal-e-Azam, Saalgirah, Tumhari Amrita (1992), Salesman Ramlal and Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi.
Melly Still is a British stage director, designer and choreographer.
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Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Private Limited, trading as Shapoorji Pallonji Group, is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. It operates in construction, real estate, textiles, engineered goods, home appliances, shipping, publications, power, and biotechnology. The company was headed by a grandson of founder Pallonji Mistry, also named Pallonji Mistry, until 2012, when he announced his retirement and the succession of his son, Shapoor Mistry.
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Mughal-e-Azam is a Broadway-style musical based on the 1960 Bollywood film of the same name, directed by K. Asif and produced by Shapoorji Pallonji. The musical was directed by Feroz Abbas Khan and produced by Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
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