Speakeasy Showstopper Bugsy Malone Dazzles Audiences 

For three nights, we were delighted to showcase the classic musical ‘Bugsy Malone’ in our theatre at Thetford Academy. Our students did a fantastic job entertaining audiences with beloved songs and dance numbers, culminating in a final showdown between Fat Sam and Dandy Dan’s gangs! 

Our students presented a delightful production, with immersive music and sound effects provided by the academy’s house band for all our shows. The band comprised students from the school and sixth form, and was conducted by our very own Dr Mckay! A trio of singers also made an appearance, raised high above the cast, they performed during all the songs and created the perfect atmosphere for ‘Fat Sam’s Grand Slam’! 

Mrs Hodges, Head of Performing Arts said: 

“The 60 students that performed have worked incredibly hard since November putting in hours of practice both at school after lessons and at home while learning lines, making costumes, or practicing their instruments. We were delighted to have so many year 7s joining our production this year and would like to thank our more experienced cast members for supporting them all along the way - this is the first time that many of them have performed in such a large production.  

As always, there are lots of people within our school community to thank who have supported the production – the Art and PE departments, the Site Team, all the office staff and all the students who worked backstage and Front of House and the staff that supported them. It was a real team effort.” 

The audience was taken back to 1920s New York as the show opens with penniless boxing promoter Bugsy Malone visiting ‘Fat Sam's Grand Slam Speakeasy’. Featuring a cast of interesting characters like star singer Tallulah and the caretaker Fizzy, it’s here he falls in love with aspiring singer and actress Blousy Brown. However, during their first meeting, the club is attacked with splurge guns -machine guns that shoot cream!  

The owner and friend of Bugsy, Fat Sam, begins to plot his revenge against rival mob boss Dandy Dan, who’s been killing off his men as the splurge guns are no match for Sam’s cream pies. After the final members of his gang, Knuckles, Louis, Snake Eyes, Ritzy and Angelo are killed, Sam goes to Bugsy to ask for his help taking on Dandy Dan.  

Between his relationship with Blousy and promoting boxer Leroy Smith, Bugsy, along with new friend Baby Face and a group of down-and-out workers prepare to raid Dandy Dan’s warehouse and take his splurge guns, all before they can be caught by crime-fighting duo Captain Smolsky and Policeman O'Dreary. The show then climaxed with the exciting final, messy fight! 

Principal, Dr Fordham said: 

“Performing Arts at Thetford goes from strength to strength, and this was the full musical theatre experience with students singing, acting, dancing and playing as members of the live band. As ever it was a delight to welcome Year 5 students from Thetford for the matinee performance, and we had three wonderful evening performances. A very big well done to everyone involved.” 

Our actors had the exciting opportunity to sing and dance on stage, act with a myriad of props in front of a large set (including splurge guns of course!), and dress like gangsters from prohibition era New York. 

Well done to all our staff and students involved in the production, and a huge thank you to the sixth formers, stagehands and musicians for their fantastic contributions to the show. This was such an exciting way for students to end the term before the Easter break, with many more productions to come on our Thetford Academy stage!