Frankie Goes To Bollywood - Derby Theatre

Thursday 14th May 2026

"Frankie Goes To Bollywood"

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 Stars)

The concept of the show was based off a true story that has been made into a book by Pravesh Kumar MBE. He is also directing this production. It tells the story of Frankie who goes to Bollywood to follow her mother’s dream of becoming an actor and soon realises how patriotic it is and how becoming famous changes her. She has become ‘arm candy’ to the men. She then decides to stand up against the men and fight for her rights.

As we walked up the stairs the music grew louder. We had the joy of listening to the pre show act, Jin and Seetal, who got the crowd going.

As we entered the auditorium we were met with a shimmery back curtain and gold arch that frames the stage. This soon turns into a burst of bright colours.

Rebecca Brower, did a fantastic job at creating the pizazz you expect from a show.

The lighting works very closely with the set to create the scene. The use of moveable lights on stands adds to the dramatic yet intimate atmosphere.

My favourite part was towards the beginning where the cast used torches in choreographed motions through the shimmery curtain to create back light for the song. Very clever.

Phillip Gladwell, the lighting designer, added a lot of effects to this show, strobes, swoops, spots. The haze was then used to create some very visually pleasing states.

Something I found a little odd, but was later told that this is common in Indian culture, was the amount of lip syncing there was. I found this distracting and it detracted from the story as they sounded very different to when the actors were singing.

The sound design by Chris Murray, made full use of the PA sound system with loud music and punch to the songs. This was helped by having the band behind the back curtain. This was directed by Josh Sood, who also played the keyboard and consisting of Pammi Saib on Guitars, and Manjeet Rasiya on Tabla & Percussion.

To complement the glitz, the costumes, designed by Andy Kumar, were full of glitter and colour. There was extremely quick changes during ‘filming’ parts of the show, these were very impressive!

The leading lady, Frankie, is played by Sarah Pearson. She is extremely animated which gives her that likability as well as having a stunning singing voice.

Prem, played by Akshay Datta, was the unsung hero in my opinion. He deserved so much from helping others live their dreams whilst he got his crushed. This was perfectly perceived by Akshay with such shyness.

Marina Lawrence-Mahrra, played Malika & Maa, each defined by their hair styles. Marina very impressively swaps from one character to another with ease or hesitation. Big applause for this first cover!

Raju King, played by Ankur Sabharwal, was the sleazy man who took advantage. Another actor who did well at flipping from the confident person to the one who’s always looking for mummy.

Katie Stasi, played Goldy & Mummy. Goldy is such an iconic character and Katie smashed it. The sass, the sweetness and the fierceness.

Shona, played by Luke Suri, was one of my favourite characters, the flamboyancy was spot on! Paired with the flouncy costumes was excellent.

The ensemble was made up of incredible dancers. These were Tash Bacarese-Hamilton, Anna Maria Barber (Dance Captain and Assisant Choreographer), Harry Brooks, Elinor Hallett, Kiran Kaanan, Neelam Rajni, Dhruv Ravi and Aron Rhode. They spent a lot of time on stage and really showed off their stamina.

Overall, the production was fabulous. It is not something I would usually go and see however the cast and crew have done an outstanding job creating such a slick, fast paced party vibe production. Well done to all.

You can catch Frankie Goes To Bollywood at Derby Theatre until Saturday 16th May 2026.

https://derbytheatre.co.uk/event/frankie-goes-to-bollywood/

Written By: Kiah Smith