A Small Mind At The Theatre

Last night I was back at Royal & Derngate to see the Youth Theatre/Young Company production of Bugsy Malone , this time seeing the almost completely different cast of Clyde Company. This second evening of the show had the fortune of running much smoother, with less of the technical issues that had beset the previous evening and restricted the success of some of the scenes. It was most apparent in the Fat Sam's Grand Slam scene, which became a greater hive of activity, with a full dance routine taking place, which unfortunately hadn't happened the previous night. Leading this scene was a full-on performance from Morgan Charles as Tullulah, exhibiting the vocal talent, and most especially the dance skills she had shown in last years Fame . In the lead for this second company, and taking a much different approach to the role, was Nathan Stroud. Here we had a more mature Bugsy, not just in age, but in personality. The slightly more serious style worked excellently alongs...

The enduring favourite with youth theatre groups gets the Royal & Derngate Youth Theatre/Young Company treatment under the directorship of the Youth Theatre Manager, Ashley Elbourne, and between them, they do as much as they can with the show. With this, my second viewing of Bugsy Malone , it is becoming more apparent to me that the show itself is a little flimsy in some areas. It has a fabulous, single wacky premise (Splurge Guns and custard pie deaths), that doesn't have the strength for a whole show, especially when you discover that Paul Williams book isn't quite strong enough to keep the interest, and certainly not as strong as some of his music. It helps though that the cast is clearly all having fun, much more than in a previous production youth production I saw a couple of years ago. Owen Howard as the lead continues to grow as a performer on the stage in his turn here as the lead. He has a confident stage presence and more especially, a charm which makes Mr Mal...

A road trip in the company of a local theatre person of repute allowed me to pay my first visit at last to that highly successful theatre The Curve. My viewing pleasure was also a first, and a particularly anticipated one on my list of those I wished to see live. Alan Parker's magical child friendly gangster musical (words and music by Paul Williams) is a bundle of joy and custard and rife for a community production, such as this directed by Nick Winston (who also handles choreography). While I would never say that I didn't enjoy this production, it did for me leave me slightly deflated from what should have been a totally uplifting experience. Production and performance wise, it was merely functional, while never reaching that crucial point where I would happily watch again or recommend to a friend. The biggest problem came from a feeling of a lack of heart. Scenes shifted promptly and never allowed the actors to live their roles, leaving a factory like process to procee...