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The Alchemist,a musical adapted of Paulo Coelho’s eponymous book,has been two years in the making. The story of Santiago,a Spanish shepherd boy who travels to the Pyramids of Egypt to fulfill his destiny and find a hidden treasure,evolves on stage through 13 live songs,a giant set with split levels,movable sheer curtains,grand costumes and actors like Delhi boy Tarun Negi who was picked from among Barry John’s best graduates.

And even after the months of R&D and weeks of intense rehearsals and fine-tuning,the play didn’t open outright before the audience. Instead,it was staged at several “zero shows” in which friends,family,sundry acquaintances of the cast and crew and theatre professionals were invited to harshly judge the play and provide tips to improve it.

Producer Ashvin Gidwani,who arranged for the finances,recalls a process that could rival Bollywood’s: “There were multiple auditions for the right actors. We changed the star cast two times and redid the sets three times. We spent Rs 18 lakh just on making mistakes.” He has no regrets because when this Mahesh Dattani-directed play opened in Mumbai a few weeks ago,all five shows sold out in 48 hours and there were long queues outside.

Gidwani agrees it was a lengthy process,but a necessary one. “The book The Alchemist has sold 100 million copies and been translated into 69 languages. When we bought rights to stage a play based on the book,we knew we would need all of India’s vast theatre experience to raise the play to its rightful level. Money wasn’t going to come in the way of a truly brilliant show,” says Gidwani. The results were impressive — the audience was stunned by the sheer scale of the effect and experience. The Maths worked out,Gidwani says he has already recovered a percentage of his investment and “will break even by the end of the year when we start our national tours to the five metros”.

On the table,are also plans to translate the play into Hindi,Marathi and Gujarati to reach the audience in small towns.

While The Alchemist could be Bollywood in a microcosm,Begum Sahiba directly draws allusions to tinsel town glamour. The play stars Rahul Roy (Aashiqui,Junoon,Bigg Boss) and marks the return of yesteryear’s actor Poonam Dasgupta,who has partly funded the venture. “One of the biggest attractions is an original soundtrack that has been performed by Sonu Nigam. Now,how often does Sonu Nigam sing for a play? We expect the audience will hum the songs long after the curtains have dropped,just as they do in films,” says Flynn Remedios,one of the members of the troupe. “The other high point is an original 20-minute music video that will be shot in Mumbai in the next few days and this again,is possibly a first in theatre. The effort has been towards making a classy production that will contain innovative and interesting elements.” The video is a theatrical device to reveal the flashback incidents in the play,he adds.

Begum Sahiba has an original plot,based on a real-life love story and while the director Babloo Mukherjee has kept the sets sedate,he has introduced flamboyance through lavish costumes.

Did the actors and director have to keep a constant eye on the budget? Remedios denies this. Because,in a move very similar to films that have tie-ups with multiplexes,Begum Sahiba has been entered into alliances with theatre distributors who,Remedios says,“have guaranteed 20 house-full shows in six cities”. “That means a revenue of Rs 20-30 lakh is confirmed. This enables us to recover part of our costs in the opening months itself. It also signifies that audiences will flock to watch a quality play. We also plan to take the play overseas to countries like Dubai,where Roy’s character,that of a sheikh,is bound to be a hit,” says Remedios.

And you thought that “house-full” was a term associated only with films.