Boukris: Hope for TV Adaptation of Dubai Based Musical

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00:00The first major original musical created and produced in the Middle East begins its run

00:05tomorrow. Once Upon a Time in Dubai will be an attempt to explain expat life in the UAE.

00:11Joining us is the show's producer, Stefan Bukris. Stefan, thanks so much for being with us.

00:17This is really fascinating. Take us behind some of the thinking between your team and why you

00:24wanted to bring this show, build this show, excuse me, in Dubai. So we fell in love with Dubai like so

00:32many people a couple of years ago and we wanted to give back. And as you can see there are so many

00:37buildings and so many great things but there wasn't like a piece of art like a musical. So

00:42we decided to do it and we teamed up with Universal Music Mina to do an amazing musical. The first of

00:49this kind of the first ever created in this part of the world. And we're looking at some. Yeah. We're

00:57looking at some imagery behind the show itself. We know that Dubai in and of itself is and has its

01:03own IP. Right. So how did you go about getting clearance from the tourism board? Walk us into

01:09the storytelling aspect of it. So we work closely with the DT and with the UAE media council and the

01:17script has been approved of course by the UAE media council to buy media council in order to respect

01:23all the traditions, the values from this amazing place. And we wanted to depict what the UAE and Dubai

01:28is really today for the rest of the world. We wanted to create an emotional bond between this place

01:34that we love and the rest of the world because you have billions of people coming every year. But still

01:39some people don't want to come. So we want to show the world the reality of Dubai in 2025.

01:44But the reality depends on who you are. Right. I mean, how do you ensure that you're depicting

01:51something that is supported by the government? Right.

01:55Yeah. So that's why we work together and closely on the script, on the story. And the cast of Once

02:02upon a time in Dubai is a reflection of the populations you can find in Dubai. So in our story,

02:09you have people from Lebanon, from the UK, from India, no French people like me because we're not that

02:15many in the UAE, but we have people from everywhere. And the idea is that every kid from this town can also

02:21relate to a character like the Power Rangers. And also when you think about it, Dubai today is more

02:27than 23 million tourists, more than 10 million residents in the UAE. And there's only one permanent

02:33show, which is an amazing show, which is La Perle. So we also want to create another offer for the

02:39tourists that come this season and later. And with the entertainment coming in the next years and the

02:44casinos, there's going to be high demand for entertainment. And I'm sure Once Upon a Time in Dubai can be

02:49one of the answers. What were some of the challenges in creating this, Stefan? So that's a great

02:58question. There are so many challenges because it's the first musical. There was not before. So people are not used to

03:04it. So it took like a couple of months, you know, so that people would know what it would be like like if it's like a

03:10French musical or UK musical. But now, you know, tickets are selling out fastly. Tomorrow, we're already sold out. On

03:16Saturday, we're almost sold out. And so I think it's going to be a blast.

03:21But but I mean, talk talk through some of the challenges, really, if you can, because this isn't

03:26something that Dubai has seen. So how do you know that you get it right?

03:31So so so we have tested, you know, the show for the past two years. The song we have tried with panels,

03:37you know, for listeners, songs are already available on Spotify and YouTube. People seem to like it,

03:42seem to love it. The story we've tested it with the 10 partners. We have 10 amazing companies

03:47who immediately backed the project companies from Accor to McDonald's, UAE, from Property Finder to

03:53Majid Al-Futaim, all the big corporations from Dubai. Everybody backed this project. And it's not

03:58about business for once. It's about giving back to the place that we love. Everybody does the extra mile

04:04because everyone this show to succeed because it will be a collective success and it will give back to Dubai,

04:10to the UAE. So everybody's happy to do this. So it's not a challenge. It was it's as a solution.

04:16But everybody's really helping us. Now the challenge is is was to find a venue because there are not

04:21many venues in Dubai for musicals. So you have the amazing Coca-Cola arena with 17,000 people,

04:27but it was too big. And then you have smaller venues. Right on the perfect venue with the agenda

04:32in the center of Dubai with 3000 seats. Stefan, really quick. What is success then? I mean,

04:38this is going to have a limited run. Do you want to take this elsewhere? Do you want to be on streaming

04:42platforms? What's the long term goal? So tomorrow we start for a season and we'd like to gather

04:49around 200,000 people. That's what we call the first round, the first season. Then we will tour

04:54internationally. There will be also permanent show in Dubai in 2026. So we are discussing with many venues

05:01in that sense. And in three to five years, my final ambition for this project would be an adaptation.

05:07So we're already discussing with the with the players, with Netflix, with Amazon Prime, because

05:13everybody's paying attention. And if it's a success on stage, then in a couple of years, wherever you

05:18are on the planet, you might see once upon a time in Dubai in your TV or on screens.

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