"Bugsy Malone The Musical"
Nottingham Theatre Royal
Prohibition era, New York. The city is full of mobsters, showgirls and dreamers. Rival gangster bosses Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are at loggerheads. The pies are flying and Dandy Dan’s gang has gotten the upper hand since obtaining the new-fangled “splurge” gun. Now, Fat Sam and his bumbling buffoons are in real trouble!
I loved the original 1970's Alan Parker film, which kick started the careers of child stars Scott Baio (Happy Days) and Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver/ Silence Of The Lambs), I bought the soundtrack album and later the DVD, and now this is the first time that this musical has appeared as a full-blown touring musical. But I won't let my love of this musical cloud my judgement on the musical. Awww man!
There are three different groups of young "unders" actors, "Roxy", "Doodles" and "Knuckles" and on Press Night I had the pleasure of seeing the Roxy Team.
Bugsy Malone is played by Shaun Sharma, a 13-year-old actor from the legendary Sylvia Young Theatre School. What confidence. What stage presence. What a performer and singer, and he can dance too. A young triple threat. He is completely at ease, and bearing in mind that this is Shaun's stage debut, he is so relaxed on the big stage and in front of a packed audience, and even bears a resemblance to the original Bugsy, Scott Baio, with his slick suit and equally slick hair. He's an adult leading man for the future and a name and face to look out for.
Blousey is played by Delilah Bennett- Cardy, and like all of these young actors is completely confident in front of a crowd. What really struck me was her beautiful voice, especially on "Ordinary Fool".
Fat Sam played by Isham Sankoh on Press Night, makes his professional debut in this show. He looks like he has been acting all his life and is a wonderful character actor.
Tallulah is played by Fayth Ifil. Fayth has already performed in several big West End musicals such as "Tina" and "School Of Rock" and was Simon Cowell's Golden Buzzer Act in series 14 of Britain's Got Talent. Fayth opens the musical, which can't be easy to be the first one out on stage, solo, in front of everyone, but, like all of them, they have instilled confidence that never wavered.
Fizzy, who by the way has always been one of my favourite characters, is played by Elliot Arthur-Mugume. He is a real bundle of energy - just watch him let rip at the end of the show. This also marks Elliot's professional debut. There was just one possible minor attack of nerves as he forgot a couple of lines from his song "Tomorrow", but he had everyone behind him as he didn't let a small thing like that phase him and got into his flow very quickly - a sign of professionalism even at his age. He has that very cute appeal so he can be forgiven anything and does a brilliant job as Fizzy.
Lena/Babyface is played by Kayla-Mai Alvares. Another pocket rocket, especially as Babyface, she is all over that stage.
Dandy Dan is played by Kit Cranston. And it is so weird that by adding a false moustache to Kit makes him look so grown up. He acts like a grown up and holds himself like the "in charge" boss character that Dandy Dan is. Kit has recently played Gavroche in "Les Miserables" in the West End.
All of the "unders" I saw on Tuesday worked together as a team and I loved the comedy timing these kids have, something that obviously comes naturally to all of them. They all can dance with an inbuilt sense of rhythm and if they are all this good at this age, think of the talent we can look forward to in another ten years' time with them.
Can I also say just how impressed I was as well with the accents from these "unders". Consistent throughout.
And it's not just these "unders" that were stars of the night; the ensemble were just out of this world. Mohamed Bangura, Marcus Billany, Kalifa Burton, Alisha Capon, Jessica Daugrida, Rory Fraser, Andile Mabhena, Luke Mills, Luchia Moss, Georgia Pemberton, D'Mia Lindsay Walker, Thomas Walton, Lucy Young, Alicia Ally, Esme Bacalla-Hayes, Alicia Belgrade, Ru Fisher and Will Lucas were just as incredible.
Not sure who played Knuckles, but here is another comedy star of the future. Well done that man.
The musical retained all of the magic of the original film with some wonderfully animated, energetic performances, almost cartoonish. The energy from these actors could light the stage up itself.
Directed by Sean Holmes. This is one incredibly energised and fun show with a breakneck pace. I loved the scene with the car as Bugsy is driving Fat Sam to meet Dandy Dan and includes a slow motion, strobed section which I thought was incredibly well done by all the young actors involved in that scene.
Choreographed by Drew McOnie. This is one area where the pace is really ramped up and the kids, as well as the ensemble, stepped up to the mark and delivered some energy filled and exciting choreography.
The fight scenes, choreographed by Kate Waters, in the boxing ring sequence was just perfectly executed, and the timings for the thrown punches were as good as any seen with adult actors.
Set Design by Jon Bauser, who also designed the wonderful costumes. I loved the way that the tables in Fat Sam's Speakeasy floated down from above like illuminated jellyfish, and those sharp suits and classy outfits for the ladies oozed style and glamour of the era.
A special note as well to Susanna Peretz for the sensational hair, wigs and make up.
Lighting Design is by Philip Gladwell, and was just as exciting as the rest of the show. Just take a look at the photos!
Sound Design is by Ben Harrison. Now there were just a couple of times that the orchestra slightly swamped the young actors' vocals but on the whole, the mix was spot on.
Musical Director is Connagh Tonkinson, who made this soundtrack swing. The soundtrack includes earworms like "We Could've Been Anything That We Wanted To Be", "So You Wanna Be A Boxer", "Fat Sam's Grand Slam", "My Name Is Tallulah", as well as a couple that I didn't recognise from the original soundtrack, which may have been written for this musical, or may be for some other reason as to why I don't recall the couple of songs.
I'd been looking forward to this musical ever since I knew this show was appearing in Nottingham, and I have not been disappointed. It's a brilliant show for all ages. It's great fun and took me back to being a 13-year-old watching the film for the first time with an even greater level of excitement and enjoyment.
"Bugsy Malone" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 5 November, so come along and see the musical theatre stars of tomorrow, today.
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