Last week nearly 60 youngsters aged eight to 16 took to the stage at Haverhill Arts Centre in a production of Bugsy Malone by the town's Centre Stage Company. Reviewer STEVE BARTON went along on Wednesday and dodged the splurge.
GIVEN that my boss was the director of Centre Stage Company's production of Bugsy Malone I may run the risk of being labelled sycophantic if I give it too much praise.
But hey, I don't care, I will take that risk because, no matter what anyone thi
nks, I thoroughly enjoyed this musical and actually skipped out of the arts centre having been infected by the cast's obvious joy at what they had just achieved.
Bearing in mind the limitations on an amateur production, this was a truly magnificent show.
From the time John Chandler walked out to give his opening, scene-setting monologue as Bugsy Malone, to the numerous encores demanded of the cast by the appreciative audience, the show never failed to delight.
Tom Bailey's performance was outstanding. His portrayal of the blustering but at times highly comical speakeasy owner and gangster Fat Sam left me wondering if this lad had been plucked from the West End.
Lauren Chinery's was by far the strongest individual voice to be heard, in her role as Bugsy's gal, Blousey Brown, but this should not detract from the contribution of all those who performed solo numbers in the show.
Plenty of pizzazz was to be found throughout the 100 minutes or so of the musical, and all the way through touches of comedy intervened to remind you it was essentially a kids' show that was meant to be fun.
Adam Chinery won a few hearts, I'm sure, with his loveable portrayal of Fizzy, Fat Sam's cleaner, whose aspirations to a life of musical stardom were thwarted by his inattentive boss.
There were so many other elements that are worthy of mention – the sassy performance of Lydia Crang as Tallulah (Fat Sam's moll), the Dance Hall Girls who helped bring the ragtime music of the day to colourful and glamorous life and the comical, blundering police officer O'Dreary (Ivy Smith) and his hopeless boss Captain Smolsky (Camilla Snell) are but a few.
In summary, Bugsy Malone was a triumph and an evening well spent and a great antidote for me to the earlier misery of the England football team's demise in Moscow!
The full article contains 403 words and appears in Haverhill Echo newspaper.
