Book: Dennis Hackin
Music and Lyrics: Chip Rosenbloom and John Torres
Lyrics: Michele Brourman
Director: Hunter Bird
Although based on a 1980 film starring Clint Eastwood, Bronco Billy as a musical has more in common with Sister Act. A young woman, fearing for her life, joins a close-knit community in which to hide. Whoopi Goldberg found safety in a convent; in the new musical playing in Charing Cross Theatre, Antoinette takes refuge in a travelling rodeo when she discovers that her evil stepmother is trying to kill her. Bronco Billy is a gentle caper, spoilt by too much sentimentality.
Emily Benjamin plays Antoinette, who becomes a millionaire when her chocolate bar tycoon father dies of a heart attack. He leaves her his lucrative business, but his wife has different ideas and wants the money for herself. If she can kill her stepdaughter within 30 days, she will be the sole beneficiary of an outrageous fortune. Antoinette flees and does what any sensible young woman would do; joins a circus.
Bronco Billy’s travelling sideshow is on its last legs. In 1979, no one wants to see a pistol-toting cowboy anymore when there’s TV to watch and disco to dance to. However, when Antoinette starts working as Billy’s assistant, she comes up with plans to make the rodeo popular again.
It’s a conceit that allows Chip Rosenbloom and John Torres to mix hoe-down with disco; think 5, 6, 7, 8 by Steps. It works in the main, and Alexzandra Sarmiento’s choreography is a delightful blend of line dance and hustle and the cast moves and sings beautifully. Stealing the show is Victoria Hamilton-Barritt who, as the vampish stepmother Constance, has to sing her numbers while dancing like she’s John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. When the show reaches its very silly Hollywood conclusion, Hamilton-Barritt is even required to sing while engaging in a fencing duel. Quite rightly, she receives the biggest applause of the evening.
But these scenes where the campness is dialled up to the nth degree sit awkwardly with the rodeo scenes where Antoinette and Billy begin to fall in love. Here, in the trailer they travel in, the cowboys are mawkish and earnest. Seemingly every lyric that they sing is about believing in your dreams, following your dreams, and not giving up on your dreams. It’s a shame as some of the songs are quite catchy and Tarinn Callender, who plays Billy, has an incredible voice, showcased wonderfully in a solo towards the end. And Karen Mavundukure’s voice is so strong that she appears to set off some kind of alarm on press night.
Working just as hard as the cast are the stagehands who create rapid wonders to the set every time the stage revolves. Designer Amy Jane Cook and director Hunter Bird certainly put the crew through their paces, especially at the end when each revolve reveals yet another location. Everyone should be breathless by curtain call, but Bird’s cast is remarkably well-rehearsed and look as fresh at the end as they did at the start.
If only the story had more weight, then the audience could invest in the lives of these cowboys. At the moment, despite the schmaltzy messages, Bronco Billy doesn’t quite hit its target. Like the rodeo show itself, this new musical seems a little dated, but as a throwaway entertainment, it is always charming.
Runs until 7 April 2024
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