San Diego's Critical hit

At its best, musical theatre takes on difficult and even repellent subjects, and illuminates them through nuanced storytelling and intelligent lyricism. The Boy Who Danced on Air is an example of just that.

Premiering in San Diego last year, Jonathan Larson's musical takes on Bacha Bazi - the practise by which young Afghansitani boys are sold to as 'dancing boys' to wealthy older men, who dress them up in women's clothing, train them to dance, and often sexually abuse them. At the core of the work are the characters of two young boys who fall for each other and plan their escape. The stars of the original production reprise their roles for this Abingdon Theatre Company staging, including Troy Iwata, who the San Diego Tribune labelled a "Broadway star-in-the-waiting'.