REVIEW | Bugsy Malone, Swing Theatre
★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewer - Hollie
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review.
Caution: This show contains flashing lights, scenes of violence and fake gunfire.
Razzmatazz, romance and lots of cream pies make a hilarious family evening!
Swing Theatre presents Bugsy Malone, a lively and hilarious musical which features child actors playing adult roles at the Mountsorrel Memorial Centre. The Youth Theatre group of 10-18-year-olds take centre stage during their latest production.
The evening begins for the audience as soon as you enter the foyer, with characters in costume and a roulette table in case you are feeling lucky before the show!
The year is 1929 and we join the protagonist Bugsy Malone, a penniless boxing promoter in New York City, in the middle of a gang war between Fat Sam and Dandy Dan.
The Youth Theatre is certainly here to put on a show and provide us with the razzmatazz of the city that never sleeps. The dancing and costumes are absolutely faultless from start to finish. With elements of tap and jive, choreographer Charlie Charity really brings the show to life with her imaginative choreography and the children have clearly put a lot of work into learning their routines.
An aspiring singer and actress known as Blousey Brown enters Fat Sam’s Grand Slam Speakeasy in the hope of an audition but she also manages to instantly catch Bugsy’s eye. The will they, won’t they love story develops through the show with both teens that played these characters showing their acting and singing abilities. Josh O’Reilly plays Bugsy Malone and his hilarious one-liners kept the audience laughing all night! Blousey Brown, played by Chloe Rundle-Brown, shows her singing talent with a beautiful voice in a variety of solo numbers throughout the production.
The scenery and use of a range of props were great and the set subtly changed throughout the performance. I read in the programme that the original set was pulled seven days prior to the opening night, so what the director of the show Liam Patrick has been able to achieve in that time is a credit to him and everyone behind the scenes.
All of the child actors were very well rehearsed and had clearly been working on their jokes and American accents. There were many hilarious moments and lots of laughs from the family audience!
The music was beautifully provided by the talented orchestra and the coming together of music and choreography in the singing number ‘So You Want To Be A Boxer’ was my particular favourite due to the energy and enthusiasm throughout the song.
Swing Theatre has one more showing of Bugsy Malone at the Mountsorrel Memorial Centre on Saturday 29th April 2023.
Swing Theatre’s next production will be Frozen Junior which begins with its opening night on 29th November 2023.
