Bugsy Malone - Theatre Royal Bath & Tour

It’s the Lyric Hammersmith production.

Also playing Birmingham Rep from 27 July to 14 August and Mayflower Southampton from 30 August to 3 September.

Manchester Opera House November...anyone had an email from ATG to confirm when tickets go on sale to members? Silly question I know..Think tickets go on general sale this Thursday

Probably old news but yes it is kids.

Looking forward to this

Looking at some of the ensemble I'd guess they have also cast older teens/young actors who can pass for teens amongst the child cast

Trailer -

I really enjoyed this at Bath! Excellent production, although not convinced about the material. The child actors are terrific, at my performance Bugsy was Gabriel Payne who was outstanding. The girls who played Tallulah and Blousey were fantastic too. However, the adult actors in it were superb and took the lead through the big numbers, which were the right amount of glitz and glam against an industrial backdrop.

Audience lapped it up, and can imagine all the kids loved it too.

Didn't fancy this at all though I have followed the tour reviews so far and can see they're uniformly excellent. My dilemma now is that it's the only production available when a visit to Oxford coincides with the tour arriving there so though the ticket prices are horrendous, I might have to bite the bullet, pay up and see it rather than go without theatre all week. At least the combination of an adult and child cast makes it sound more palatable.

robertb213 - Thanks for the positive review. I was meant to have been at yesterday's matinee but due to the train strikes, I was unable to attend so I've moved my ticket to this coming Saturday's matinee. I'm glad the train trip from Liverpool will hopefully be worth it. I was definitely in minds whether to make the journey down to Birmingham or wait for it to come to Liverpool next Feb before reading your post.

After last weeks attempt to get down to Birmingham was cancelled due to the train strikes, thankfully I was able to move my ticket to today’s matinee and with some great weather and trains running, this was definitely worth the trip to the REP.

Director Sean Holmes and his team really have done a fantastic job in putting Alan Parker’s work onto the stage. With a wonderful mix of kids in the primary roles and older cast members in the ensemble they have got a great cast assembled. From today’s viewing with the efforts of today’s cast, the future of theatre in the UK is a positive one with this up and coming talent.

This youthful cast really are a joy to watch and listen to during the musical numbers giving really strong and assured performances full of energy that cannot fail to put a smile on your face. With the main roles being shared between 3 kids each, sadly I couldn’t find any information about who on at this show, but we definitely had Amar Blackman as Bugsy and Albie Snelson as Fat Sam. All the kids get a chance to shine vocally either in their own solo numbers or during the finale and really turn in some wonderful moving musical moments that belie their age. The kids certainly seemed to have plenty of fun with the custard pies and splurge guns.

The older cast members come into their own with Drew McOnie’s creative choreography that really is both energetic and creates some nice ensemble moments and none more so than during Act 2’s boxing scene that mixes seamlessly both dance and sporting moves in “So You Want To Be A Boxer “. Also the car chase scene at the end of Act 1 is cleverly staged thanks to some great lighting design from Philip Gladwell.

Set and costume designer Jon Bausor has done an excellent job in creating a 1920’s New York feel from his initial dark and dreary Fire Escape static set that we first encounter entering the auditorium to the bright and glitzy Fat Sam’s club. Whilst the sets are nothing fancy, they more then do the job required. The lads are fitted with those nice 1920’s suits and the girls with the traditional flapper girl dresses.

Paul William’s score is brought to life a a great orchestra of 6 led by MD Connagh Tonkinson. Being sat front row meant I had few full of the musicians at work in the orchestra pit directly in front which was an added bonus to todays viewing. Though during the final splurge gun battle at the end, the orchestra did bring out some umbrellas to protect themselves from the gunk.

Whilst the comedy definitely comes through I didn’t get any sense that any of the characters were in any danger from the performances that were maybe more present in the film version.

Having a read of the online reviews, there seems to be a mix of 3-5⭐️ opinions and from my own viewing I’d give this one a 4⭐️ rating. It’s a fun 2 hrs (Act 1 is 50 minutes and Act 2 is 45 mins with a 20 min interval) at the theatre and I’ll definitely be booking a second viewing when it turns up at Liverpool next year.

Saw this last night, rated it 3 stars.

I've never seen the movie so I wasn't 100% sure on what to expect with this one.

Like said previously in this thread I feel like the mix of child and adult actors was a good call, however it felt really uneven when they'd utilise the ensemble more or child actors more.

Act 1 for me was just weirdly paced. The musical numbers were few and far between and very short. Just when I started to get into the song, it was over. In the middle of these are long drawn out dialogue scenes where the children take centre stage, this is fine but the microphones were very quiet which often made it harder to understand the child actors.

This is where expectations come in, with hearing the concept earlier I was expecting a little bit more fun. It was nowhere near as fun as it really needed to be. By the end of Act 1, I felt like it had its moments but I had kind of seen enough.

At interval I got my sad, expensive, but surprisingly really good brownie and hoped that act 2 would lift my spirits.

Lift my spirits it did. It was like I was watching a whole new show (maybe ATG put something in that brownie) The director must've heard my cries. "You want it to be fun? You want me to actually showcase my talented cast? You want bigger, I'll give you bigger."

All of a sudden I felt like the show finally clicked. The choreography is great throughout, the musical sequences really picked up. The boy playing Bugsy, I think was Gabriel Payne was incredible once they finally let him in a musical number. Fat Sam was also very charming. Everything was just vastly improved and I walked out having had a pretty good night.