Is Bugsy Malone everything the critics want it to be?
Sean Holmes's production of Bugsy Malone reopens the redeveloped Lyric Hammersmith. Featuring an ensemble of 16-21 year olds and a principal cast of children, it runs until 1 August.
Michael Coveney, WhatsOnStage
★★★★★
"Brilliantly directed by Holmes and sensationally well-choreographed by Drew McOnie, the show is a blast from titfer top to tapping toe"
"I was nothing but glad to hear Paul Williams's songs again, and musical director Paul Bateman's seven-man band in the pit gives the cast extra oomph"
"an extraordinary and unforgettable night"
Michael Billington, Guardian
★★★
"It is all staged by Sean Holmes with great elan, the cast is highly talented, and the audience went wild with delight. The Lyric clearly has a hit on its hands"
"there is an unavoidable cutesiness about the sight of kids apeing adult mannerisms"
"it has a vaudevillian bounce denied to Parker’s movie. But, while I may well be in a minority of one, I found something resistible about its desperate desire to be loved."
Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
★★★★★
"this Hammersmith Bugsy Malone is a blast – a triumphant return for the stage version of Alan Parker’s adored 1976 film-musical"
"Sure, some of the lines are a bit gabbled, a few of the interactions are a touch gauche – but isn’t that part of the charm?"
"This is something very special indeed."
Dominic Maxwell, The Times
★★★★
"this whomping big crowd-pleasing hit"
"the gifted cast in Sean Holmes’s propulsive and assured production makes these Depression-era song-and-dance showdowns into something thoroughly uplifting."
"Once the plot kicks in, though, once Drew McOnie’s brilliant choreography starts taking centre-stage, you surrender to this strange but marvellous evening."
Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out
★★★★
"Lyric boss Sean Holmes is the perfect director for the job, bringing a ruthless lack of sentiment and gift for metatheatrical shtick to the table"
"Full of fourth wall-breaking nods, his Bugsy is aware of its underlying absurdity, yet also played with a gleefully straight bat"
"an entirely winning production"
Bugsy Malone runs at Lyric Hammersmith until 1 August