WITH a host of toe-tapping showstoppers, a cast of impossibly cute young performers, and an hilarious script which provides some real laugh-out loud moments, it would be hard not to love Bugsy Malone.
And last Saturday’s production by Bullfrog at Chequer Mead did its magnificently daft plot very proud indeed.
The twenties pastiche features an all-kid cast in which two rival gangs vie for supremacy over a Chicago-style demi monde, despatching each other with the ‘traditional’ weapons of flour bombs and custard pies.
But when the superior firepower of a new weapon – the Splurge gun – is introduced to the gangland scene by Dandy Dan and his henchmen, it’s a game changer for Fat Sam and his cohorts who quickly succumb to the deadly discharge of soap suds.
As Bugsy Malone – the failed boxer who provides the narrative drive for the plot – Jamie Kaye was terrific. His winning grin, assured delivery and personal charisma won over his audience from the moment he sauntered on to the stage, and as the plot unfolded it was apparent he was no slouch at singing or hoofing either.
There was a lovely solo from Velma, played by Zoe Gunter which got the show off to a good start, and she was back for an impressive chorus of Something’s Got a Hold of Me with Fat Sam’s dancers played by Sophia Violaris, Katya Grenier, Francesca Terrington, Stephanie Cranham, and Tallulah (Alysha Finch-Parsons).
Alysha vamped it up magnificently as good time girl Tallulah and her impressive vocals and American accent captured the mood perfectly. While rival love interest Ella Scott played a Blousey who was feisty on the outside, but whose soft heart was beautifully played in I’m Feeling Fine and Ordinary Fool.
Alicia Depper as Fizzy not only did a magnificent job keeping the stage dry as the splurgings saw the stiff count go through the roof, but she put in a lovely song and dance solo with Tomorrow as she waited for the auditions which never came. While tiny Amy Clements’ Lena made easy work of leading the company in Showbusiness.
Some of the warmest applause of the night went to Helen Bellinger and Amber Titchener, playing the hopeless detectives O’Dreary and Smolksy who brought the house down with their unexpectedly huge vocals in That’s Life.
Bugsy is an anarchic ensemble piece which requires some tricky moves from the whole company, but from the smallest to the largest they tackled the big numbers with panache – and none more so than little Charlie Stripp as Doodles who was splurged early on but resurrected to do some great work in So You Wanna Be a Boxer.
The company’s rendition of There May be Trouble Ahead was as exhilarating as it was prophetic as the final hilarious shoot saw the entire cast comprehensively splurged – and left the audience howling with laughter.
Among the comments I heard afterwards were the words “Magnificent” and “I feel really proud”: so it was, and so they should have been.
Lovely show, lovely kids.
Geraldine Durrant
This article is used by kind permission from www.eastgrinsteadonline.com East Grinstead’s Community Website.
Missed it? There is a London production of Bugsy Malone opening at the Lyric Hammersmith