Bugsy Malone: A Review By Rivi Lock-Phillips and Alice Read-Clarke A fun musical from start to finish, packed with action and lots of singing and dancing. We entered the PAC knowing nothing about the show, and by the end we had been blown away by the talent displayed and the excellent execution of everything on stage (and off stage)!
these characters really added to the show and we laughed a lot.
Entering the PAC, the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement in the rush of people preparing things. The stage had the word “Bugsy” written in huge stars, and the rest of the stage was adorned with the same stars scattered around, which made for a fun backdrop for the play. My personal favourite part of the set had to be the disco ball, though!
The second act opened with Tallulah’s solo, “My Name is Tallulah”. Vanessa Cuatrecasas played Tallulah so well and really suited the part. Despite a few tech glitches, this song was performed excellently and drew the audience in for the final half of the show.
Preparing the audience for the show, the band played an overture which really set the mood and further excited people for the performance, also signalling us to pay attention to the stage. The lights went down, and the opening number began. It gave us a good introduction to the play, and we loved the singing. “Fat Sam’s Grand Slam” was the next song, and as we wrote in our notes, “it’s a bop”! This song was so much fun, and the choreography was so lively, it was so entertaining for everyone in the audience, and it looked like the cast was having lots of fun on stage, which is always important.
The song “Down and Out” was performed in such a creative manner, using bowls to add another type of sound to the tap dance. We thought this was so creative and clever, and the inventiveness of the performance of this song definitely intrigued the audience. This was one of our personal favourite songs because of the choreography of it.
Bugsy Malone and Blousey Brown, played by Grace Henman and Ellie Dent, worked so well together and the acting by this pair was very high quality, as was Blousey’s singing.
The final song of the show, “You Give a Little Love”, left everyone on a high- an upbeat song with the whole cast on stage together. We were taught that fighting is futile and “we’re weaker divided”, and the audience was left with this message to consider.
What really stood out to us in the first act was the song “Tomorrow”, Fizzy’s solo, performed by Finn Williams. The singing truly left us speechless, and the emotion of the song was conveyed so well. Congratulations, Finn!
Congratulations to the whole cast for putting on an entertaining, fun performance full of talent and excitement. Special mentions go to the choreographers, lighting crew, sound, musicians and Mr Punter, whom the play could not have happened without!
Fat Sam and Dandy Dan’s gangs were so entertaining, the comedy provided by 11
Photos from the Queen Annes Marketing team
