The musical\u2019s lead roles will be played by Broadway stars Manu Narayan (playing Saajan) and Kuhoo Verma (playing Ila). Narayan\u2019s work includes roles in the original Broadway casts of \u201cCompany,\u201d \u201cGettin\u2019 the Band Back Together,\u201d \u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d and \u201cBombay Dreams.\u201d His recent work includes \u201cThe Baker\u2019s Wife\u201d off-Broadway as well as recurring appearances in \u201cYour Friends & Neighbors\u201d alongside Jon Hamm on Apple TV. Watch a clip of his performance in \u201cCompany\u201d here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Verma most recently starred in the New York revival of \u201cHeathers: The Musical.\u201dShe returns to Berkeley Rep having previously appeared in \u201cMonsoon Wedding\u201dand \u201cOctet,\u201dthe lattera Lortel and Drama Desk award-winner. Watch Verma perform the song \u201cI Say No\u201d from \u201cHeathers: The Musical\u201d here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Together, Narayan and Verma bring their vibrant presence and unmatched, virtuosic singing to this world premiere musical. <\/p>\n Among the Berkeley Rep production\u2019s creative team is Ritesh Batra who wrote the musical\u2019s book and co-lyrics. He also wrote and directed the original \u201cThe Lunchbox\u201d \u2014 his debut feature film. It was supported by Sundance and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Grand Rail d\u2019Or and was nominated for the 2015 BAFTAs. Batra has been named one of Variety\u2019s \u201cTen Directors to Watch.\u201d His previous films include \u201cOur Souls at Night\u201d (Netflix), \u201cThe Sense of an Ending\u201d (BBC, FilmNation) and \u201cPhotograph\u201d which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival in 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alongside Batra, the musical\u2019s creative team features Daniel and Patrick Lazour who wrote the music and co-lyrics for the show. The Lazour brothers are musicians and award-nominated music theater writers, arriving at Berkeley Rep following Lincoln Center Theater\u2019s recent production of their original musical \u201cNight Side Songs.\u201d Their original songs can be heard on their Spotify.<\/a>\u00a0 The musical\u2019s score features Indian Classical instruments and vocal arrangements alongside Batra and the Lazours\u2019 sincere, introspective lyrics.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Lunchbox\u201d musical\u2019s director is none other than Rachel Chavkin, the 2019 Tony Award-winning director of Ana\u00efs Mitchell\u2019s \u201cHadestown\u201d on Broadway. Chavkin holds Obie, Drama Desk and Tony awards for her directing work. That includes \u201cNatasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812\u201don Broadway, Ars Nova, and American Repertory Theater; \u201cLempicka\u201don Broadway, at La Jolla Playhouse and Williamstown Theatre Festival;and \u201cThe Royale\u201d at the Lincoln Center Theater.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reshma Gajjar also joins the creative team to make her musical theater debut as choreographer \u2014 she\u2019s also an actress and interdisciplinary performing artist. She has acted on screen for directors including Spike Jonze, Sam Mendes and Kathryn Bigelow, and is recognized for opening the Oscar-winning\u00a0\u201cLa\u00a0La\u00a0Land.\u201d Gajjar has toured globally with Madonna and Ricky Martin, and performed alongside Selena Gomez, Dua Lipa, Charli XCX and Adele.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Lunchbox\u201d runs from May 17 to June 28 in Berkeley Rep\u2019s Roda Theatre, bringing to the stage all its charm, exuberance and courage. Berkeley Rep is proud to close its 2025\/26 season with this must-see world premiere musical. More about the show and tickets here.<\/a><\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The musical \u201cThe Lunchbox\u201d debuts this May at Berkeley Rep, starring leads fresh from Broadway and featuring an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[27076,143,145,144,1058],"class_list":["post-277652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-arts-resource-guide","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lunchbox-man.jpg\")
Manu Narayan plays Saajan in \u201cThe Lunchbox\u201d at Berkeley Rep, May 17-June 28. Credit: HanJie Chow<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/lunchbox-tiffin.jpg\")
Kuhoo Verma plays Ila, whose home-cooking reaches the wrong recipient, in \u201cThe Lunchbox\u201d at Berkeley Rep. Credit: HanJie Chow<\/p>\n