Bugsy Malone

This is the stage adaptation of the irresistible 1976 British film musical that reignited the dormant British film industry 40 years ago. Stage versions of ‘Bugsy’ have become a staple of youth companies, most famously the NYMT (who have previously presented it in 1997 starring a young Sheridan Smith), while an earlier West End version was previously done at the Her Majesty's by the same group back in pre-Phantom days in 1983.

There is no written rule (to my knowledge anyway) that this show is to only be performed by youth – unlike ‘Phantom’, ‘Miss Saigon’ and ‘Les Mis’ which are popular titles amongst many youth societies at the moment because us societies with a membership made up of big kids are not allowed anywhere near! I’ve never seen or even heard of a production of ‘Bugsy’ being presented with adults taking some or all of the roles. In this production, youth were the focus and did indeed complete the line-up of principals, however, one or two big kids (more than a stones through over 21) couldn’t resist stepping into the production to showcase their tomfoolery skills, much to the enjoyment of many - but to me, only confusion.

This ‘Bugsy Malone’ was directed by Richard Ross who had presented an ‘experience’ with the actual production being just one part of it. Each audience member had to memorise a password to access the bar which served cocktails named after the principal characters. We were then led into the performance space which was partly laid out in cabaret style (audience seated at small tables) with the majority of us sat on the tiered seating. The entire room was used for the performances which added layers of interest though did mean we were occasionally blinded by lights whenever anyone was performing next to or behind us. Nonetheless, the studio space was maximised for this production indicating that bigger scale productions are achievable in this restrictive venue with the approved know how.

Pulling in as many skills as possible to delight us, Richard and Justin Morley (the shows Musical Director) had the title song performed by an actor/muso trio of girls which set the ambiance and mood of a 1920s speak easy, making sure we all knew where we were and when we were. This was later contradicted with the ‘sore thumb’ of the evening, a ridiculous decision to replace one of the numbers with a ‘Spice Girls’ classic didn’t work for me in any way, shape or form.I cannot, artistically, understand any logical reason behind this choice which is so far from being accurate or complimentary to the genre and production.

We had a small band taking up most of stage left, one or two played characters within the production whilst some members of the band shuffled around to play other instruments. It did strike me as a little odd to have the Musical Director sat behind his musicians all with their backs to him but thankfully I didn’t notice any hiccups which would have required them all to twist and contort round to take their lead from him, making a hiccup (heaven forbid) very challenging to recover from.  

Brody Jellyman gave us a cool Bugsy with plenty of street cred swagger about him demonstrating a strong but raw singing voice. The Italian/American accent did present us with some difficulty to understand what was being said occasionally and I kept praying he’d pull those shoulders back but all in all this was a sturdy and enjoyable portrayal. Blousey Brown, the sweet but not timid young thing who knows how to handle herself, was given lots of nice touches by Mia Walker, ‘Ordinary Fool’ being the vocal highlight of the evening.

The entire company excelled with ‘So You Wanna Be A Boxer?’ which had the most energy and punch of the evening (#pun). ‘Give A Little Love’ - the shows finale - was also performed with much gusto and fun sending us away humming a merry tune.

This is famously a pastiche, pie-in-your-face (instead of bullets) recreation of gang warfare films, we got a nod to this as quite a lot of what should be stage action was created on location and shown to us on film in black and white, and excellently accomplished it was – again, using society skill sets to enhance our experience.

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