Bronco Billy The Musical - Charing Cross Theatre

That is a pretty cool poster. Never heard of the film though. Is this going to be yet another hard-sell at Charing Cross?

The info was in the press release:

The show has a book by Dennis Hackin, music and lyrics by Chip Rosenbloom and John Torres, with additional lyrics by Michele Brourman. It is based on the Warner Brothers motion picture written by Dennis Hackin, by special arrangement with Warner Brothers Theatre Ventures.

www.whatsonstage.com/news/emily-benjamin-to-star-in-uk-premiere-of-bronco-billy-the-musical_1519420/

First preview is going ahead tonight, anyone else here?

They're more than a step up from the Mernier's

Even with an upgrade from a £10 back row seat to the 5th row I did not enjoy this show. Went in with an open mind, not knowing anything about it, but within the first 15 mins I was starting to be irritated. This may not have been helped by production team members with notebooks sat around me finding everything incredibly hilarious, while most of the general audience were only very mildly amused.
Tonally it is a mess - the 'travelling show' and the 'chocolate heiress' scenes seem to written or directed in an inconsistent style. It probably needs to be played as a comedy throughout.
The first act is far too long and desperately needs cutting.
The cast are doing their best with lacklustre material, and hopefully some of the issues can be resolved before press night.

(The toilets were improved from my last visit to this venue at Xmas when an appalling smell of stale urine was in danger of also stinking out the auditorium until the doors closed for the start of the performance.)

I don't know whether it's raised but I sat front row and it was pretty high and VERY close but I wouldn't say it was restricted view, I could see everything easily, I could see too much tbh!😄

It's a bit of a daft show, but enjoyable enough. I thought the cast were better than the material really.

This was not great, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much budget they seemed to have (sets, costume, effects and even branded chocolate bars!). VHB was the most enjoyable part of this.

This is generally ok, with Victoria Hamilton-Barritt worth the price of the ticket.

Some spoilers follow. . .

The movie was a gentle wistful comedy about losers reinventing themselves. This show didn't have the confidence to be JUST that, and mixes in some of the broadest comedy imaginable, involving Inspector Clouseau type assassination attempts and whatnot, most of which misses the mark, and confuses the tone of the whole thing.

Also, the added competition element, ala Strictly Ballroom/Dirty Dancing/Saturday Night Fever, etc, which wasn't in the film to my recollection, also feels too shoehorned in to really work, and confuses rather than enhances the wistful story elements about losers finding their places in life.

Of the added comedy elements, ONLY Victoria Hamilton-Barritt is actually funny, but she IS hilarious, and her big second half number, "Mama's Done With Sweet" is SO diabolically funny that that number alone was worth the price of the ticket for me lol!

Emily Benjamin was marvellous in "Cabaret," but lacks the light comedic touch that someone experienced with light comedy, like a Strallen, might bring to this sort of thing, so her lead character never really galvanised my affections, although her voice does complement Tarinn Callender's powerful voice and they do sound great together.

Luckily, Karen Mavundukere, as the lead in the circus type numbers is an absolute joy to watch, raucous and effervescent, and really puts the Barnum & Bailey into the Bronco Billy Circus scenes.

But in the end, the lack of tonal consistency means that the losers-make-good scenes are defused by the broad comedy and vice versa, with only Mavundukere and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt cutting through.

But oh my, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt's "Mama's Done with Sweet" is too funny for words, a sly camp winking malevolent delicious diva display that sent me home happy.

3 stars.

Gutted, was sat in my seat for the matinee and a few mins after it was due to start, someone came on to say it was cancelled for safety reasons. I was really looking forward to seeing it as well. To help soften the blow, they announced they'd put some money behind the bar so everyone could have a drink since it was so last minute a cancellation.

Yes it was, I've not had that before so it was nice. I think they realised we couldn't go anywhere else to try for tickets to another matinee by that point. Nobody was kicking off so it was quite a nice atmosphere in the bar while we all had a drink.

I'm going to book another date as I did really want to see it.