Bugsy Malone Junior – by arrangement with Faber Music Ltd

This whole production, by Maltby Minors, was well directed and congratulations must go to Producer/Choreographer Claire Saddington for her vision in putting it all together so effectively, but with an amazing twist and considered casting of the roles.
The musical direction, under the supervision of Graham Cowley, was excellent with young people singing some challenging songs accompanied by a great three piece band.  The band supported the young voices, but enhanced this lively production. 
The hero of the story, Bugsy Malone, was played by Charlie Wroe who gave a great performance in the title role.  Poppy Rigby was super as Bugsy’s love interest Blousy Brown, with excellent singing of some difficult songs and – this is where it gets interesting – the role of gangsters moll Tallulah was played by Matthew Smith.  Matthew’s portrayal was quite literally jaw dropping.  The mature way in which he approached this role, took away any potential for it to come across as a Panto dame.  He really was amazing and demonstrated versatility and ability beyond his years – definitely a young man to watch out for in the future.
The demanding role of Fat Sam was well played by Rosie Rowlands, who had excellent comic timing and Charlie Lee’s aloof portrayal of Dandy Dan was very clever.  I really enjoyed the fabulous comedy double act of Ellie-May Scholey-Strzala and Kendal Lambert (Officer O’Dreary and Captain Smolsky) an inspired pairing of two very talented actresses who maintained their accents throughout.  Fizzy was given another dimension in this production with Poppy Rowlands energetically singing and acting her way through this role, bringing a comic, yet empathetic portrayal of the janitor who wants to ‘be a dancer’.  I also enjoyed Daniel Hunter in the role of Leroy Smith – very entertaining.
There was good characterisation in some of the smaller roles and along with the chorus the entire cast maintained their characters throughout even during the scenes involving the splurge gun attacks.   Every young person on the stage gave their all and I felt the roles had been well balanced to provide lots of opportunities for all the cast who also gave us some great production numbers.  The use of the small performance space was very well done and the Stage Manager and Crew quickly and adeptly moved us from scene to scene.  The performers were agile in their use of the trap door and well done to the Set Design team for their creative use of the limited space available.  The sound and lighting was well done throughout and the whole performance was very slick.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the production.
 

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