Somewhere in the first act of
Bugsy Malone it strikes you that, before the idea became familiar through the film, Alan Parker had not only to come up with this idea, but also pitch it: A musical version of a 1930s gangster movie, but with a cast of children, and pie fights instead of gunfights. It's ridiculous but it works, and does so very well in Sean Holmes' production, the rather unlikely choice to inaugurate the officially reopened Lyric Hammersmith. Three rotating casts of children play the main seven roles, while an ensemble of adults and older teenagers back them up. Bugsy Malone (Sasha Gray, Michael Matias or Daniel Purves) is just trying to get somewhere with Blousey Brown (Zoe Brough, Thea Lamb or Eleanor Worthington-Cox) but he gets caught up in a turf war between Fat Sam (Max Gill, James Okulaja or Jenson Steele) and Dandy Dan (Oliver Emery or Tahj Miles.)
