Bugsy Malone

I first saw ‘Bugsy’ as a 23-year-old back in 1976 when the film first came out and loved it at the time, unique concept of all the adults’ roles played by children. I have seen it many times since that first screening – now adapted to the stage – and it is one of the very few musicals that would not work if done by adults. During these years, the enthusiasm of those casts has never altered in that time – it is still a perennial favourite for youngsters.

What is not to love if you are a teenager or pre-teenager? Meaty roles, catchy tunes, and an opportunity to slap a ‘custard pie’ in a fellow actor’s face…

In the title role of ‘Bugsy’ was Alex Rochester whose character often broke the ‘fourth wall’ when explaining the background of the story to the audience. Alex proved his versatility by his fine acting and singing. His first meeting with ‘Blousey Brown’ (Eleanor Adamson) was an instant attraction (if at first one sided). Eleanor showed the ‘edge’ to her character in the way she acted (along with the baseball bat she carried!) – her voice proved very melodic in her songs also.

We had not been a minute into the show and gang warfare had proved ‘fruitful’ with scattered bodies and an excess of ‘splurge.’ It was left to ‘Fizzy’ (Brooke Vickers) to clear the stage in his role of ‘Fat Sams night club’ caretaker. Brooke made the most of her role as the quiet but ambitious ‘would be singer’ who never quite was given her chance.

Doing the hiring and firing was ‘Fat Sam’ (Jamie Peacock) – Jamie played ‘Sam’ very confidently and led to many humorous lines as he corralled his hapless band of ‘hoodlums.’ Leader of this band of hoodlums was ‘Knuckles’ (James Sutherland), James had the right blend of hoodlum melded with a bit ‘dim’ persona within his role.

Fat Sam’s resident singer ‘Tallulah’ (Sophie Girdlestone) was ideal in the role. Sophie did not overplay her would be affair/attraction to ‘Bugsy’ and hit the balance exactly right – her song was tuneful and sang with measured approach as befits the character.

To have a ‘gang war’ there must be two ‘gang leaders’ – the ying to Fat Sam’s yang was ‘Dandy Dan’ (Ollie Carr) – Ollie measured up in stature inch for inch against Jamie’s ‘Fat Sam’ with both characters vying for ‘villain of the year.’

Of course, any spoof gangland war needs a hapless detective and their even more hapless assistant to investigate – step up ‘Capt. Smolsky’ and ‘O’Dreary’ (Iris Neasham and Robyn Steel respectively) both reinforced their inadequate nature by their slapstick approach and their diminutive sizes.

As a sub-plot Bugsy ‘discovers’ ‘Leroy’ (Kasey Robinson-Vickers) as a would be new heavyweight champion who is put through her paces by Gym owner ‘Cagey Joe’ (Lucy O’Connor) – the audience loved the scene as diminutive Kasey managed to knock out her opponent.

The stage at the community centre looked the part with the art deco decorations on the walls complementing the era of the show. The set included a split-level area with musicians hidden behind them leading to a fairly small playing area which director Rebecca Charlton augmented with a slightly raised frontal dais just about audience level and it worked well.

The ensemble of ‘hoodlums,’ ‘down and outs,’ ‘TV presenters and reporters’ completed the bright vibrant nature of the show until the finale number of ‘You Give a little love.’ You could see the undiluted joy and enjoyment on the faces of the cast as the whole cast got splurged and custard pied.

As a youngster you cannot buy that happiness – well done to director Rebecca Charlton and the rest of the production team for allowing a safe environment to allow this to happen – well done all.

 

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