Bronco Billy The Musical - Charing Cross Theatre

[theatrenerd]

Starring Emily Benjamin
January - April 2024
www.broncobillymusical.com/

[BurlyBeaR]

Nice poster! 

[TallPaul]

The all new Wild-West End Musical!

A rollicking new musical comedy based on the original Clint Eastwood motion picture. It’s 1979 and life is tough for a group of romantic fast-drawing, trick-riding, disco-dancing Wild West roustabouts and their travelling show, but things take an unexpected turn when Bronco Billy (leader of this rag-tag troupe) meets Antoinette Lilly, a determined Manhattan heiress on the run for her life. So begins a wild, zany ride in this thrillingly upbeat musical about love, reinvention, family and living your dream.

[darreno]

Very excited for this. Have loved this film since I was a kid so I'm really looking forward to seeing what they make of it.

[marob]

That is a pretty cool poster. Never heard of the film though. Is this going to be yet another hard-sell at Charing Cross?

[raiseitup]

Have they announced the creatives/who's written the score? That website is so sparse.

[viserys]

The info was in the press release:

The show has a book by Dennis Hackin, music and lyrics by Chip Rosenbloom and John Torres, with additional lyrics by Michele Brourman. It is based on the Warner Brothers motion picture written by Dennis Hackin, by special arrangement with Warner Brothers Theatre Ventures.

www.whatsonstage.com/news/emily-benjamin-to-star-in-uk-premiere-of-bronco-billy-the-musical_1519420/

[FrontroverPaul]

Show opening has been postponed for at least 24 hours from the scheduled Wednesday 24 January - my matinee booking (through WestEndTheatre.com) for the Thursday 25 matinee was cancelled yesterday.

According to the Charing Cross Theatre website Bronco Billy now opens on Thursday evening with a handful of seats available, then no availability until Thursday 1 February when there are plenty of seats for the matinee but none for the evening performance.

[matty]

First preview is going ahead tonight, anyone else here?

[matty]

Well this was better than I was expecting. A few hiccups with some of the timings, but for a first preview everyone was on good form. It was nice to see the Charing X Theatre almost full.

There were quite a few laughs throughout. Songs were OK, not overly memorable, but fun. The sets looked pretty cheap, but it kind of worked in the context of the story.

The story was pretty predictable, but an enjoyable watch. The cast was great. Victoria Hamilton-Barrit stole her scenes and is worth the ticket price alone.

The first act did drag a bit and the whole thing could do with a bit of a cut, but it got an enthusiastic response from the audience. It is not going to set the world of musical theatre alight, but I had a good time and I heard some very positive talk as we were walking out.

Someone really needs to invest some money in the Charing X Theatre though. A lot of the seats are frayed and need new cushions and the toilets are ghastly.

Act 1: 19.32 - 20.50
Act 2: 21:12 - 22.05

[argon]

Jan 24, 2024 22:21:26 GMT matty said:

and the toilets are ghastly.

Act 1: 19.32 - 20.50
Act 2: 21:12 - 22.05

They're more than a step up from the Mernier's

[vabbian]

2 stars.

Not much to say really.
It's the kind of show you immediately forget the moment you exit the doors of the auditorium.

First act - a bore. Considered leaving, quite a few people did.

Second act - considerably better. Victoria Hamilton Barritt saves the day (as she does in almost every show she's in). Her solo is worth the discounted £10 ticket in the back row alone

I liked how they brought out the backstage crew for the bows, they should be applauded, all shows should do this.

[dave]

Even with an upgrade from a £10 back row seat to the 5th row I did not enjoy this show. Went in with an open mind, not knowing anything about it, but within the first 15 mins I was starting to be irritated. This may not have been helped by production team members with notebooks sat around me finding everything incredibly hilarious, while most of the general audience were only very mildly amused.
Tonally it is a mess - the 'travelling show' and the 'chocolate heiress' scenes seem to written or directed in an inconsistent style. It probably needs to be played as a comedy throughout.
The first act is far too long and desperately needs cutting.
The cast are doing their best with lacklustre material, and hopefully some of the issues can be resolved before press night.

(The toilets were improved from my last visit to this venue at Xmas when an appalling smell of stale urine was in danger of also stinking out the auditorium until the doors closed for the start of the performance.)

[theoracle]

Is the stage raised here too? I can see front row being listed as partially restricted view? Thanks

[l0islane]

Jan 31, 2024 0:34:52 GMT theoracle said:

Is the stage raised here too? I can see front row being listed as partially restricted view? Thanks

I don't know whether it's raised but I sat front row and it was pretty high and VERY close but I wouldn't say it was restricted view, I could see everything easily, I could see too much tbh!😄

It's a bit of a daft show, but enjoyable enough. I thought the cast were better than the material really.

[darreno]

Front row (D) is slightly restricted. I sat in D11 yesterday matinee and I'm tall, but still found it a slight distraction.


Had high hopes as I love the film, but overall it's a fun show that doesn't quite know what it is. Cast are likeable though, and that goes a long way to tipping it from average to enjoyable.

Once VHB arrives on stage, you can be sure of a good time from that point onwards. She's ridiculous and fantastic. High camp panto from her saves the day.

[thistimetomorrow]

This was not great, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much budget they seemed to have (sets, costume, effects and even branded chocolate bars!). VHB was the most enjoyable part of this.

[theoracle]

New interview with VHB - she seems like such a lovely lady. Her calm voice quite a contrast to the mad characters she’s been playing lately. Her blood poisoning story here is quite disturbing and I wonder how she would’ve settled in a Central School class having already collected 2 Olivier noms. Very interesting

open.spotify.com/episode/0tWgwtRLKvmDhfIgdUGuSl?si=q_IpJV3ASZ2q0G90lhJ_9g

[Steve]

This is generally ok, with Victoria Hamilton-Barritt worth the price of the ticket.

Some spoilers follow. . .

The movie was a gentle wistful comedy about losers reinventing themselves. This show didn't have the confidence to be JUST that, and mixes in some of the broadest comedy imaginable, involving Inspector Clouseau type assassination attempts and whatnot, most of which misses the mark, and confuses the tone of the whole thing.

Also, the added competition element, ala Strictly Ballroom/Dirty Dancing/Saturday Night Fever, etc, which wasn't in the film to my recollection, also feels too shoehorned in to really work, and confuses rather than enhances the wistful story elements about losers finding their places in life.

Of the added comedy elements, ONLY Victoria Hamilton-Barritt is actually funny, but she IS hilarious, and her big second half number, "Mama's Done With Sweet" is SO diabolically funny that that number alone was worth the price of the ticket for me lol!

Emily Benjamin was marvellous in "Cabaret," but lacks the light comedic touch that someone experienced with light comedy, like a Strallen, might bring to this sort of thing, so her lead character never really galvanised my affections, although her voice does complement Tarinn Callender's powerful voice and they do sound great together.

Luckily, Karen Mavundukere, as the lead in the circus type numbers is an absolute joy to watch, raucous and effervescent, and really puts the Barnum & Bailey into the Bronco Billy Circus scenes.

But in the end, the lack of tonal consistency means that the losers-make-good scenes are defused by the broad comedy and vice versa, with only Mavundukere and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt cutting through.

But oh my, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt's "Mama's Done with Sweet" is too funny for words, a sly camp winking malevolent delicious diva display that sent me home happy.

3 stars.

[capybara]

I had a huge amount of fun. Emily Benjamin, who I was last blown away by as alternate Sally in Cabaret, was joyous as Antoinette Lily, while Tarinn Callender had charisma in heaps as Billy.

But, once again, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt stole every scene she was in. Bronco Billy is already as camp as tits but VHB somehow managed to up the ante each time she sauntered on as evil stepmother Constance Lily. I loved her in the Bat Boy concert and she was just as hilarious here. Incredible scenes.

It does, however, still feel like a bit of a work in progress. Some ideas don’t land as well as the rest of the show and there are moments where it loses direction and drifts a little. The score needs some work and could do with some more memorable tunes to complement the talent on stage. I loved the disco theme and maybe it could lean into that more going forward.

I absolutely love Amy Jane Cook’s dynamic set design. Charing Cross isn’t a big space but you can mould it to a vision. The revolving truck doubles up as so many other locations and is almost a character in its own right. It did lead to a very short show stop though!

Bronco Billy may go even further if there is the desire and motivation to take it to the heights it could yet reach.

Three stars.

[iwanttix]

Gutted, was sat in my seat for the matinee and a few mins after it was due to start, someone came on to say it was cancelled for safety reasons. I was really looking forward to seeing it as well. To help soften the blow, they announced they'd put some money behind the bar so everyone could have a drink since it was so last minute a cancellation.

[ThereWillBeSun]

iwanttix that's such a lovely gesture by the venue team. Kudos to them.

[iwanttix]

Yes it was, I've not had that before so it was nice. I think they realised we couldn't go anywhere else to try for tickets to another matinee by that point. Nobody was kicking off so it was quite a nice atmosphere in the bar while we all had a drink.

I'm going to book another date as I did really want to see it.

[fiyero]

just on my way home. Agree with the comments above but had a great evening and luckily have a spare slot coming up so have snapped up another £18 front row ticket.
sold out tonight.
Victoria was worth my £18 on her own. A soap baddie with extra camp. the whole cast were great too. I do agree with those saying it needs a bit more, like a workshop, but I'm thrilled with what they have achieved in the space. use of the set was so clever.

[tmesis]

I went to yesterday's matinee on a last minute, excellent rush todaytix (absolute bargain at £15.) It's absolutely ridiculous camp froth and I loved every minute. Great cast with Hamilton-Barritt just sensational (whenever is she anything else?)

Some great singing and an excellent band with fab sax player.

Oh and the production was so inventive and really made that old flea-pit of an auditorium sparkle.