Bugsy Malone

Bugsy Malone is one of those shows that regardless of your mood walking in, it’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face. A show designed specifically for children and young people to which there is no adult version; the opportunity to play with splurge guns, custard pies, pedal cars plus singing and dancing appeals to us all: young and old alike. The delightful light hearted fun where it’s really obvious that everyone harmed is pretending: plus which among us would still not want to have a go at a splurge gun, given the chance. 

From the moment this show opened it was clear that the production values were high. The orchestra seated on the stage in ‘Fat Sam’s’ as they would be, a la Chicago, was a lovely touch. The style of their sound also helped to set the time period of the piece, with great use of echo and emphasis on clarinet. The musicians are clearly highly skilled and were a joy to listen to throughout, as the music felt ever present. Congratulations to MD Andy Stewart and the orchestra for the gorgeous accompaniment throughout. 

The cast for this show was enormous, and what’s so brilliant was the audience can feel the enthusiasm, the energy and excitement from every single performer on stage. They all clearly loved being part of this show and this oozed to the audience, enhancing everyone’s enjoyment of it. All the cast members made the most of their parts and each were allowed to shine in their own way. There were so many lovely details added: the member of Dandy Dan’s gang who always laughed manically slightly too long after splurging which was brilliant; the sweet and hilarious moment of Knuckles and Fat Sam testing the new weapon, and each of the characters in Fat Sam’s gang having individual characteristics which they had clearly worked on. 

Hadlee Snow held the whole show with calm and self assured confidence as the titular character and was a joy to watch in all his scenes – and he was rarely off the stage. Iris Kesteven had the most angelic voice as Blousy: pitch perfect and a stunning range and quality: a joy to listen to. As too was Ryan Shyam as the downtrodden Fizzy whose emotional pitching and solo ‘Tomorrow’ was almost heartbreaking: a gorgeous performance. Erin Cresswell showed great characterisation as Tallulah, with sass, personal power and self assurance, plus really lovely vocals in quality and range. It should be said that the vocals across the whole show were stunning; and the principals had clearly been chosen for that extra special quality that the leads have. 

There was also lovely characterisation on show, which director Karen Brown had facilitated and supported. It’s unusual to see so much lovely detailed acting in a show with so many performers: congratulations to Karen and the whole team for this. The two opposite gang leaders were such good examples of this: Soli Hartley was a joy to watch as Fat Sam. His ever increasing frustration fused with great comic timing was lovely. Lenny Kerr’s Dandy Dan seemed more mature and older than his years: slimy and oozing control by eliciting fear, when he wasn’t pulling roses from thin air! Spencer Coe as Captain Smolsky had great stage presence and was hilarious, he pulled off funny stupid very well.  

The staging and spacing deserves special mention, across the set which was so inventive and well thought out, with different layers and heights, but all in the same style of detailed drawings and dark pink colour. They made great use of the different spaces and stairs, with other set parts wheeled in from sides effortlessly and quickly. The choreography deserves special mention for the shapes created on stage which were so interesting to look at. There were some modern additions yet still keeping with the flavour of the original and the time period, and the balance of these two was precise and worked beautifully. Everybody on the stage knew exactly what they were doing and they worked together, creating synchronised movements. There are clearly some talented dancers in this troupe who they were able to cast in specific pieces of contemporary dance as well, incorporating acro elements which were impressive. Congratulations to Choreographer Liam Watts who clearly inspired their joy in doing the dance moves as well as encouraged precision. 

There were some lovely moments to take away and laugh about again afterwards, such as the undertakers who came on and shook their heads in unison ruefully; the scene with the ventriloquist which was guffaw funny, and the sudden appearance of full beautifully designed pedal cars on the stage, with working doors. The haze filled bubbles coming down from the ceiling towards the finale was another addition of awe, as were all the individual costumes on every single cast member, often two or more if they multiroled, which were absolutely stunning. There was such an attention to detail in everyone’s costume which fitted their character perfectly: the stage was filled with colour and joy, and the hair and makeup matched beautifully with some hair aspects of the original film. 

Huge congratulations to every single person involved in this show, it was absolutely stunning, and left everyone singing and happy: a gorgeous time at the theatre. 

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