Bullets Over Broadway The Musical, performed by Guildford School of Acting third years at Ivy Arts Centre, Guildford, continues until 11 November.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
This musical version of the 1994 Woody Allen movie was given its first British production in Guildford this week and proved a real crowd-pleaser.
It premiered on Broadway in 2014 (script by Allen and Douglas McGrath; direction and choreography by Susan Stroman) but ran up against The Book of Mormon when it came down to awards.
Using mainly popular jazz and standards from the 1920s and 30s (Allen himself played clarinet in his own Manhattan band for many years and still performs at 81), it ran for 156 performances. Marvin Hamlisch wrote some new songs for it but these were rejected by Allen.
The 27 songs that survived included ‘Let’s Misbehave’, ‘Up a Lazy River’, ‘Runnin’ Wild’ and ‘Yes, We Have No Bananas!’, so there was plenty of familiarity with the score for the cast of 18 and their audience almost a century later.
It’s a show within a show with young playwright David Shayne getting his first play ‘God of My Fathers’ on Broadway financed by a gangster acquaintance of producer Julian Marx.
For his money, wealthy gangster Nick Valenti wants his dim-witted, ditsy blonde girlfriend Olive to be promoted as a star and enlists his strong-arm pal Cheech to watch over her.
Cheech comes up with ideas to improve the show while recognising Olive’s lack of talent.
The leading lady, posh but ageing diva Helen Sinclair, sets her conniving sights on the naive David who already has a girlfriend, Ellen, and is confused.
Meanwhile, the male lead, the camp Warner Purcell, is chatting up Olive. Their ‘Let’s Misbehave’ routine is a joy.
It’s all very improbable but the hard-working, well-drilled cast are clearly having a great time and there are a few typically Allen quips to provide the laughs, as well as rude and hilarious numbers such as ‘The Hot Dog Song’ and ‘Bananas’.
The star of the show is the long, brilliantly choreographed tap dance routine by the boys towards the end of Act 1 that elicits wild cheering from the audience.
Individually, Sam Kipling has a gem of a role as actor Warner and absolutely nails it; Will Carey in the lead role is unflashy but very solid; Dillon Scott-Lewis looks right at home as gangster Nick; and Darragh Cowley is sinister as the gun-happy Cheech.
Jennifer Beveridge looks and sounds very actressy as Helen. Her duets with Carey, particularly ‘I Ain’t Going to Play No Second Fiddle’, are well worked, and Hollie Aires is sweet as the girl David left behind, or thought he had, for Broadway fame.
As screechy dumb blonde Olive, Ally Retberg has perhaps chosen authenticity of accent and pitch over audience comprehension. Fair play, she gets plenty of laughs, but I have to confess most of her lines were lost on me. It’s a difficult one as she clearly has a gift for comedy.
Musical director Tom Turner and his band of six do well with a variety of material, Joanne McShane’s choreography and PJ McEvoy’s 1920s costumes are terrific, and the whole thing is knocked into high-octane shape by director Graham Gill.
A very good effort at a very average musical.
Jeremy Chapman
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