The film made British director and screenwriter Alan Parker’s name in 1975. The musical, with songs by Paul Williams, is a parody of a typical Warner Bros Prohibition gangster movie of the 1930’s with stars such as Edward G Robinson, James Cagney, Paul Muni and Humphrey Bogart.
Parker’s originality was to cast all the roles with children. Their average age was 13. The kids behave like a bunch of gangsters or, if you prefer it, the gangsters behave like a bunch of kids. The hoods carry machine-guns but they don’t fire bullets. They fire splurge.
Certain film critics became quite hysterical, dismissing it as pornographic. Let me reassure you the stage musical is a totally innocent spoof. There is no violence, no carnality, no vice, no alcohol – only splurge.
The stage version’s appeal is still that the lead roles are performed by kids. They are ably supported by an ensemble of young adult performers just out of drama school. There are three different casts. In the cast I saw the stand-out performance was by Olivia Shaye Masterson singing, “My Name is Tallulah.”
The script occasionally drags. Diction is not always good. But Drew McOnie’s choreography always comes to the rescue and gives cast (and audience!) a big lift in such numbers as “Bad Guys” , “So You Wanna Be A Boxer” and “You Give a Little Love.” The finale, which leads into a dancing curtain-call, is exhilarating.