The pressure was certainly on when the Oxford Playhouse curtain went up on Bugsy Malone The Musical last night, beloved by so many thanks to the 1976 film.
The young boy next to me knew all the words, singing along and mouthing in sync with the cast as they whipped up the tempo with the achingly familiar and dazzling array of musical numbers that snagged a little piece of my heart.
Oh it was good.
Not only did it take you back, right into the vortex of all those wonderful songs and characters, but it’s done so brilliantly.
“Bugsy Malone is a slick, sizzling, saucy, sentimental performance that deserved every minute of its standing ovation”
No expense has been spared on the set, costumes, choreography, music or production. A live band was on hand to guide us through America’s prohibition era and Fat Sam’s speakeasy was brought to life with its stellar line-up of dancers, staff, customers and mobsters, Knuckles’ joints clicking over and over again.
The casting director should be knighted for assembling such an incredible cast. Yes they stuck to their splurge guns with children as the leads, but my-oh-my they were incredible.
“Bugsy Malone is still the ultimate feel-good show”
Take Fayth Ifil as Tallulah, she could sing like a nightingale, her rouged lips evoking the smoky, sultry, heartfelt tones of someone twice her age, a stunning performance.
Her foil – Blousy Brown (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) – had just the right bite and attitude, with a voice that had us in raptures, you could have heard a pin drop during Ordinary Fool……
In fact, the voices that poured out, from Elliot Arthur Mugume‘s caretaker Fizzy’s rendition of Tomorrow, to Kayla-Mai Alvares‘s diva Lena, had us transfixed. Boy these kids can sing!
“as we left I could hear the audience humming the show tunes all the way up Beaumont Street”
Fat Sam, played by Isham Sankoh held his own in his stage debut, his larger than life presence, and determination to keep his rival Dandy Dan (a wonderfully straight-faced Kit Cranston) off his patch, splurge guns or no splurge guns, steering the plot.
Framed by the brilliant, professional young adult ensemble whose natty steps, multi-roles, hilarity, frivolity, singing and high energy kept the show on the road, ensuring that epic songs such as So You Wanna Be a Boxer, Down and Out and Fat Sam’s Grand Slam were all delivered with resounding clout.
The entire cast deserved the standing ovation when Bugsy Malone, Alan Parker’s famous tale of gangsters and razzmatazz finally wound to an end, proving that it is still the ultimate feel-good show.
Bugsy Malone The Musical is a slick, sizzling, saucy, sentimental performance that deserved every minute of its standing ovation, and as we left I could hear the audience humming the show tunes all the way up Beaumont Street.
Bugsy Malone The Musical is at Oxford Playhouse until Saturday September 24. Book at https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/bugsy-malone but TICKETS ARE SELLING OUT FAST!
