Bugsy Malone at Curve Theatre Leicester 6th October 2022 Matinee Show.
Review:
This was so funny, zany and incredibly entertaining.
I love the movie and watched it all the time when I was younger, so getting to see a production on stage was wonderful. The cast were all so talented, so energetic and so funny.
The ensemble were killing it on that stage they were my highlight of this whole show. There weren’t many scenes that we didn’t have them doing a role, each one of them had quick changes, costume and character changes. They had so much to do and were incredible at every scene. They had so much choreography to do, so many fight scenes and they worked so well together and were all super talented, I couldn’t stop watching them when they were on the stage.
My favourite character in the whole show was Knuckles, though the programme doesn’t tell me who played him. He was absolutely hilarious and literally had me in stitches laughing at him, just everything about how he portrayed the character was fantastic and hilarious. With not just the gross but funny knuckle crunching, but one scene in particular that stood out to me was where he has to ‘act normal’ and he is the opposite and absolutely hilarious.
I also want to give a shout out to Lucy Young from the ensemble as I spotted her doing so many roles in each scene, so many really fast changes, from one costume straight into another and from one character right into the next no breaks between most of them either, she had so much to do in this show, she was really talented and I kept noticing her.
I loved the choreography and the fight scenes in this show they were cultivated so precisely and you could see all the fine details in the movements and the talented cast sensationally pulled it off. The fight scenes were so well crafted and worked seamlessly I was mesmerised by the boxing scene and how perfectly it was put together. All the choreography was absolutely stunning but wow was it all so detailed. The cast had it down to a tee and were so incredible. Most of the choreography and the fight scenes looked so difficult but the cast did it with ease. Each scene was wonderful to watch.
The show itself was so funny and each character/actor brought something so unique to each character which was so great, I really loved the humour and all the jokes everyone came out with. The talent that each cast member had was spectacular they all were incredible actors, had beautiful singing voices, were so funny and all nailed the choreography.
The younger cast members filling the roles of Tallulah, Bugsy, Blousey, Dandy Dan, Fat Sam, Fizzy and Lena/Baby Face were all really talented and had really great singing voices. Though I did find unfortunately that the music overcrowded some of their voices at times, making parts hard to hear which was a real shame as they were beautifully singing their songs. They all portrayed their characters wonderfully and even though there was a couple of small mistakes for one character they recovered from it perfectly.
The music was beautiful and so catchy, it took me back to when I was younger watching the movie singing along. It was wonderful that I still remembered all the songs. My favourites from this production were Bad Guys and Fat Sam’s Grand Slam, I love both these songs so much and the cast did them to perfection. All the music and the songs were incredible and fun and stunning to listen too everyone had such gorgeous voices.
I should also mention the special effects team that had to get the sound effects perfect each time and they did, I was really impressed with them; And also the clothes designers the costumes were all so beautiful and looked great, capturing the era perfectly.
This show was honestly such a fun and entertaining show to watch, I had such a great laugh, seeing everyone getting pied and seeing Fat Sam losing all his men in funny scenes and it was just so funny with so many jokes from start to finish. The dancing/fight scenes were beautiful, the songs were stunning and the cast were all so superbly talented. I loved everything about this show it was so vibrant and hilarious and was so well worth watching, you’ll be laughing, singing, dancing and enjoying it.
Warning though the show has strobe lights that really are very flashy and bad, though create a really clever scene, it can cause issues to someone with strobe sensitivities. The show also has really loud gun sounds when they are pie splatting everyone, this happens a lot in the show and is very loud so again if you have sensitivities or are even triggered by guns, please keep that in mind.
Overall I loved this show it was filled with such high energy, we had a cast that clearly loved what they were doing and brought all that passion and love out onto the stage, it was such a feel good and funny entertaining show and I loved it so much.
Cast:
Shaun Sharma, Gabriel Payne, Amar Blackman as Bugsy Malone
Mia Lakha, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Avive Savannah Williams as Blousey Brown
Albie Snelson, Isham Sankoh, Charlie Burns as Fat Sam
Taziva-Faye Katsande, Jasmine Sakyiama, Fayth Ifil as Tallulah
Ellis Suntherland, Aidan Oti, Elliot Arthur Mugume as Fizzy
Cherry Mitra , Kayla-Mai Alvares, Ava Hope Smith as Lena/Baby Face
Rayhaan Kufuor-Gray, Kit Cranston, Desmond Cole as Dandy Dan
Georgia Pemberton – Ensemble & First Cover Blousey
Alisha Capon – Ensemble
Lucy Young – Ensemble
D’Mia Lindsay Walker – Ensemble
Jessica Daugrida – Ensemble
Alicia Ally – Swing & First Cover Lena/Baby Face
Alicia Belgarde- Swing & First Cover Tallulah
Esme Bacalla-Hayes – Swing & Assistant Dance Captain
Luchia Moss – Ensemble
Kalifa Burton – Ensemble & First Cover Leroy & Assistant Dance Captain
Rory Fraser – Ensemble
Andile Mabhena – Ensemble & First Cover Fizzy & Fight Captain
Thomas Walton – Ensemble
Ru Fisher – Swing & First Cover Dandy Dan
Mohamed Bangura – Leroy
Marcus Billany – Ensemble & First Cover Bugsy
Luke Mills – Ensemble & First Cover Fat Sam
Will Lucas – Swing & Dance Captain
Crew & Creatives:
Sir Alan Parker CBE – Play Writer
Paul Williams – Words & Music
Sean Holmes – Director
Drew McOnie – Choreographer
Jon Bausor – Designer
Phil Bateman – Musical Supervisor, Arranger & Orchestrator
Philip Gladwell – Lighting Designer
Ben Harrison – Sound Designer
Susanna Peretz – Hair, Wigs and Makeup Designer
Franny-Anne Rafferty – Associate Director
Leanne Pinder – Associate Choreographer
Connagh Tonkinson – Musical Director
Kate Waters – Fight Director
Maisie Carter – Associate Fight Director
Michelle Payne – Resident Director
Will Burton CDG – Adult Casting
Verity Naughton CDG – Child Casting
Lindsay McAllister – Choreography Handover
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