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