Seeing Yourself: Bhangin’ It Review

MIXED ASIAN MEDIA - APRIL 4, 2022

By Madeline Bhaskar

All my 7-year-old self wanted for Christmas was a My Twinn doll. I grew tired of Barbie’s minority sidekick friends and wanted a doll that would have no other choice than to represent me. For those who don’t remember, My Twinn was American Girl Doll’s evil cousin company that created dolls that looked exactly like you, using a photo. I remember ripping off the wrapping paper and looking down at my supposed replica. She had dark brown hair, a few of my features, and my iconic left cheek beauty mark, but she was very pale. Whenever I would show the doll off, friends would only comment on how she didn’t match my complexion.

Now as a 24-year-old, I find myself still trying to look for my My Twinn. I stopped in my tracks when I read the synopsis for Bhangin’ It: A Bangin’ New Musical.

The La Jolla Playhouse musical tells the story of Mary Clark (Ari Fasar), a half white, half Indian woman, who quits her college bhangra team after her ideas are rejected. Mary then recruits a ragtag group of students from all different backgrounds to create a new bhangra team to compete at nationals. It was only when I saw the confirmation email in my inbox that I even knew I had made the conscious decision to buy the tickets.

As I settled into my seat, I was transported into the vibrant, diverse, beat-booming world of collegiate bhangra. Bhangra is a dance originating from Pakistan and the Punjab region of India. I did not know of bhangra before this musical, but now I know how infectious the music and dance can be. If you are not familiar with bhangra either, have no worries, because Mary and her bhangra team — new and old — both wrestle with the idea of what bhangra is and is not. Mary’s antagonist, Preeti (Vinithra Raj), advocates for “by-the-book” bhangra and finds Mary’s approach, and heritage, to be disingenuous. Preeti’s “I Want” song takes the form of “Stamp It Out,” a fun, upbeat song where you see that her motivation stems from a fear of appropriation and misrepresentation rather than malice.

Due to her team’s various backgrounds, Mary enlists the help of Rekha Kapoor (Alka Nayyar), a former Bollywood star who owns the local Samosa Hut. Through her culinary tutelage, the team grows more in their understanding of authentic bhangra through the joyful tune of  “The Balle Balle/ Baile Baile Ballet.” All the while, Mary struggles with her identity and her desire to honor her passed Indian mother through dance.

Underneath the bumping bhangra routines lies Sam Willmott’s score, which brilliantly centers around the root of traditional bhangra music while infusing pop-Broadway ballads and numbers. Much like the main character herself, the score is mixed but tied to tradition. My favorite, as I eagerly await a hopeful Spotify release, was “Toledo.” Mary and her teammate/love interest Billy (Brandon Contreras) bond over their cultures and how they fail to measure up. The song touches on every doubt and frustration a mixed kid can have, while giving language to those unidentified feelings. Again, I eagerly await the cast album.

What struck me the most as I saw Mary’s story play up on stage were the little moments of insecurity: the mispronouncing of Hindi words, not knowing how to put on a sari, feeling like a fraud, the local Indian restaurant being the main source of Indian culture in a primarily white area. These are aspects of mixed race life that I would be terrified to admit, but Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza’s hilarious and heartfelt script embraces them. Seeing a half Indian, half white woman up on a stage, making mistakes, loving yet still learning about her culture, questioning herself, and dancing through it all beautifully validates the mixed race experience. Mary’s story is not half a story but a full one.

Lew and Lew Mirza’s book’s antidote to Mary’s identity crisis is as nuanced as multiculturalism itself. The Hallmark version of this story would be that Mary learns to be herself, but that can’t satisfy when Mary is still in the process of discovering herself. Instead, Bhangin’ It teaches the importance of understanding and protecting your roots, while allowing room for growth and change.

Sitting there as the cast performs the finale number that I can only equate to “Waterloo '' from Mamma Mia! but with 10 times the color and sparkle, I realized that I finally found my My Twinn doll. It wasn’t a replica of myself but rather a portrait. Like when you ask a loved one to describe you, they bring to light all of your features even the ones you were blind to or never knew how to describe yourself. I can only compare watching Bhangin’ It to cooking Indian food for myself the first time. I always knew the flavors, but now I was able to identify the taste of roasted cumin. I’ve never felt like an expert on my culture, but now I realize that no person could ever represent a culture in its entirety. I never saw myself on stage before, but now I have.

Madeline Bhaskar is a LA-based screenwriter, but she will always remind you that she is originally from the Midwest because cornfields and the cold are what shaped her. Being half Indian and half white, she found herself in challenging and humorous situations, navigating the space in between. In her writing, she explores the moments that define who we become and how we see ourselves. Outside of her time sitting at a computer, Madeline loves taking photos for her pug Instagram @toallthepugsivelovedbefore, watching The Great British Baking Show, and being the coolest youth group leader for her church.