MUMBAI: Musical broadways and plays can only be revived if an infrastructure for theatre is in place, multi-talented singer-actress Sharon Prabhakar said.

Prabhakar, who made her mark as an actress with roles in Broadway classics like ‘Godspell, ‘Evita’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and as a pop singer for much of the 80s and 90s laments the lack of support for theatre- a medium she loves and believes can give platform to hundreds of actors and singers to exploit their talents.

“Unlike Bollywood or television, we really don’t have an infrastructure for theatre. There are no halls or theatres to rehearse. Mumbai has no space and Delhi has its politics. To hire a theatre, it takes three months to get one at NCPA or Sophia’s. The module itself is faulty,” points out Prabhakar.

Given an opportunity, Prabhakar is confident that India can produce not just internationally acclaimed musicals like ‘Phantom of the Opera’, ‘Evita’ or ‘Cats’ but also Indian ones like ‘Laila Majnu’, ‘Mahabarata’ and a host of other plays of different genres.

“If someone was to give a license and royalty I can start immediately. We can have ‘Evita’, ‘Mama Mia’ and ‘Sunset Boulevard’. The Padamsees (she is married to theatre director and ad guru Alyque Padamsee) can produce six shows themselves. The cost can be self-generating. Suppose we get Rs 3 lakhs, we can put up shows, like Broadway, seven days a week with two matinee shows in the morning; we can easily make Rs 27 lakhs in a month. It’s not the lack of skills- there are many talents but lack of infrastructure and support. And Indian audiences are not encouraged to go for theatres.”

Her wish is for a theatre village to be created in Mumbai or anywhere in India (for that matter) where shows can be staged. The village can also be a tourist attraction.

“If we can book or lease a theatre (like Andrew Lloyd Webber does for his productions) we can sign contracts with actors. We need to treat it like a corporate.”

Even with all the challenges, Prabhakar gives her best with what she has. She produces and performs in shows that come her way- theatre and corporate music gigs. She also runs a talent management company. This year she plans to form a band to play at venues like Blue Frog and Hard Rock Café.

What she is not ready to do is ‘compromise’ her stand and jump into the Bollywood playback singing market- a field she has dabbled in successfully before with 14 films.

“I have done some soul searching on play back singing but I am a self-employed producer so have not really looked into it. If I started making rounds, people would be embarrassed.”

What keeps her going in spite of all the challenges is because of her immense love to perform and thrill audiences. And she’s happy to be in a profession where she gets to live her childhood dream- to be on stage and amaze audiences with her talents.

“To perform in front of people was a childhood dream and I’m lucky to be able to continue to do so. To choose between singing and theatre would be dicey. Singing is in my blood. You can teach to improve one’s singing, but you can’t teach a person how to sing- you need to have the pitch.”

Apart from her dream to build up the country’s theatre, Prabhakar’s wish is to have a platform where she can sing every night- a la a never-ending Las Vegas residency stint.

“I’d love to have a chance to perform every night like Celine Dion does at Las Vegas. If I was offered a million dollars to perform where no one was watching me, I wouldn’t take it. I love performing to an audience and make them awe-struck.”