Robert Tanitch reviews Bugsy Malone at Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London W6
Sean Holmes’s production last year was a popular and critical success. It makes good sense to revive it for another season. The show is ideal for family audiences
Bugsy Malone, the film, made British director and screenwriter Alan Parker’s name in 1975.
The show, with songs by Paul Williams, is a musical parody of a typical Warner Bros Prohibition gangster movie of the 1930’s such as Little Caesar, Public Enemy, Scarface and Roaring Twenties and stars like Edward G Robinson, James Cagney, Paul Muni and Humphrey Bogart.
A scene from Bugsy Malone by Alan Parker and words and music by Paul Williams @ Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. Directed by Sean Holmes.
Parker’s originality was to cast all the roles with children. Their average age was 13.
The kids behave like a bunch of gangsters or, if you prefer it, the gangsters behave like a bunch of kids. The hoods carry machine-guns but they don’t fire bullets. They fire splurge.
The musical’s appeal on stage is that the lead roles are being performed by kids. They are ably supported by an ensemble of young adult performers out of drama school.
There are three different casts. In the cast I saw the stand-out performance was by Olivia Shaye Masterson singing, “My Name is Tallulah.”
The script occasionally drags. Diction is not always good. But Drew McOnie’s choreography always comes to the rescue to give cast (and audience!) a big lift in such numbers as “Bad Guys” , “So You Wanna Be A Boxer” and “You Give a Little Love.”
The exhilarating finale, which leads into a dancing curtain call, has the audience on its feet and clapping.
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