Arts Listings

Opera Piccola will present Mirrors of Mumbai, an original piece of musical theater about the changing life and attitudes of a family in India with connections to Silicon Valley. Written by playwright Sonal Acharya and well-known jazz artist George Brooks, who is in-residence with the troupe, with direction by Susannah Woods, it premieres tonight and tomorrow night at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, and a week from Saturday night at downtown Oakland’s Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts on Alice Street. 

The piece uses traditional, classical and contemporary styles of music, dance and theater from both India and America. Interwoven stories of the characters show their struggle during a time of globalization and rapid change, challenging traditions of religion and family loyalty with newer ideas of freedom, material gain and individual identity.  

“The story takes place during the course of one day, during the Indian New Year’s celebration,” said Shruti Tewari, who plays the grandmother of the family. “These linked stories are presented by a maidservant, who goes in and out as an observer. The grandmother is 76, there’s an 18-year-old girl and her middle-aged parents. Their son’s in Silicon Valley, and a friend of the mother is visiting.” 

Tewari emphasized the different assumptions of the characters that are challenged: “My character has to decide whether to go on living or not. She’s used to writing off new concepts, ideas, but believes in letting the others have their own life. The parents feel the lust for money, but try to keep propriety. Their emotions are suppressed. Each character, despite strong family ties, has given up the love of who they really are. And that sense of loneliness is reflected in the music.” 

The moods shift, however, as the characters express different things, and there is humor to balance the melancholy. 

“George has very innovatively blended his jazz roots with his study of Indian classical music,” said Tewari. “There’s tabla and flute, intertwined with very Western piano. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard before.” 

The cast is also diverse, mostly Indian-American, but with a Filipina-American as the maid and a Latino-American as the son in Silicon Valley.