Royal Court Jesters delight with BUGSY MALONE JR.
by Celeste H. Breitenbach
news@timesheraldnews.com
Attention parents and grandparents – The Royal Court Jesters, Cockpit in Court’s resident children’s theater, is presenting a live family-friendly performance that concludes this weekend (July 13-15).
BUGSY MALONE JR. is acted by kids for kids and is a great introduction to live theatre. The price is right, too. All seats are only $7.
Within minutes of the show’s opening, much to the delight of the youngsters in the audience, several actors have been “splurged” – for those of us of a certain age that means shot with silly string. The “splurging” continues at what narrator Bugsy Malone (aptly played by Parkville resident Mike Delaney) calls “the bookstore that ain’t no bookstore!” Actually, it’s a speakeasy with dancing girls, pint and quart size gamblers and other habitues of such spots.
It’s all good clean fun and the audience loves it.
The 62 kids in the show range from toddler to 18 and have been in rehearsal since April. Learning the ropes of show business through The Children’s Playhouse of MD Inc., they live as close as a few blocks off campus to as far as Washington, D.C.
Their talent runs the gamut from precious to precocious and everywhere in between.
White Marsh resident Kelsey Lake as Blousey Brown and Casey Kolb as Fizzy belt out their songs with a stage presence as good as any I’ve seen in more professional troupes. Some of the dancers, too, are ready for a step up.
Director Diane Smith has done great work with these kids. She happily reports that the actor originally cast as Dandy Dan had to bow out when he was called to Broadway (yes, the New York Broadway stage) to play Young Tarzan. The Dandy Dan role was ably taken over by Eric Lucas of Kingsville.
Who knows where these young thespians will land. Come out to see BUGSY MALONE JR. and maybe discover a star of tomorrow.
Performances in the J Building Lecture Hall on the campus of CCBC–Essex, 7201 Rossville Blvd. are on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. For reservations, call the Box Office at (410) 780-6369.
Cutline photo: Cockpit in Court’s Bugsy Malone features Kelsey Lake of White Marsh and Mike Delaney of Parkville. Photo by Amy Jones