Yes, the Bugsy Jr. cast is a little boy-heavy, but at this age, that's a good thing. This show is a great way to involve your young male actors in a show that is "cool for boys". (We did "Cinderella" the previous year, and not too many middle school boys wanted to wear tights!...so gangsters shooting Tommy Guns brought them back in large numbers!)   Although in the end, we still didn't have enough boys to fill out the two gangs, so several girls in suits and hats played gangsters, (which, at this age, works fine).

But rest assured, there are a couple really good leading roles with solos for girls, namely Tallulah and Blousey, so it's not just a boys' show. Here is a picture of Tallulah posing with her flapper girls in the "dressing room scene".

Since it was a middle school musical, I had a very limited budget. So for my set, I simply recycled the grand staircase from Hello, Dolly!" two months earlier! I used the Dolly staircase as my entrance to the underground "speakeasy". Then I built two rotating wagons left and right for the "dressing room" and "office". This wide shot was taken during the curtain call, so you can see tons and tons of Silly-String on the floor from the crowd-pleasing "pie-fight" scene.   You can also see how I used the garish purples and blues of the era, plus lots and lots of Art Deco style elements everywhere...for instance, the nightclub sign, the wall posters, and the show logo on the valance. Notice the phone booth SR, which is critical to many scenes. And notice that instead of opening the entire orchestra pit, I just built a circular "bandstand" SL for a 3-piece combo...(so luckily, the music is very simple).

Oh and by the way, I have about a dozen "Splurge Guns" that I can sell you...really cheap.

Go for it! -Dana