Bronco Billy — The Musical
Reviewed by Lovell Estell III
Skylight Theatre Company
Extended through July 21
RECOMMENDED
If you haven’t seen the 1980 movie Bronco Billy with Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke (or can’t remember if you did), don’t worry. With a book by Dennis Hackin (who also wrote the novel and the movie’s screenplay), and music and lyrics by Chip Rosenbloom and John Torres, with additional lyrics by Michele Brourman, this world premiere musical version, smartly directed by Hunter Bird, is a heck of a lot funnier and way more enjoyable.
It’s 1979, and somewhere in America’s heartland, Bronco Billy (Eric B. Anthony) runs a traveling Wild West show that is barely floundering along. The troupe of performers Billy affectionately calls “buckaroos” have stuck it out for months without being paid, and now things have reached a crisis level. Billy wants to make one more go of it with a possible Hollywood audition, but getting there won’t be easy.
Meanwhile, far away from the show’s dust and deprivations, Antoinette Lily (Amanda Leigh Jerry), the only child of a billionaire candy baron, has just learned she will inherit all of daddy’s money — if she can survive the elaborate plot to kill her and grab the cash hatched by her milquetoast husband John (Chris M. Kauffmann), her stepmother Constance (Michelle Azar), her sleazy lawyer Lipton (Marc Cardiff), and bloviating “hit man” Sinclair St. Clair (Pat Towne). Antoinette is forced to go on the run, and just happens to meet up with Bronco Billy somewhere in the desert. And that is where the tale kicks into high gear, with intrigues, hi-jinx and lots of laughs.
What really energizes this show and makes it so entertaining is the splendid music, singing and dancing (Janet Roston’s choreography is remarkable), with arrangements and orchestration by David O. The twenty-eight musical numbers cross a range of styles, and are performed with infectious élan by the ensemble (musical director Anthony Lucca, Austin Chanu, Jeff Frantom, Cyrus Elia and Ryan McDiarmid). They don’t miss a note.
John Iacovelli once again proves he’s one of the best designers working with a simple, yet abundantly effective scenic design. Cricket S. Meyers’ sound design is equally apt, while Ann Cross Farley provides an array of attractive, well-imagined costumes.
Skylight Theatre, 1816 ½ N. Vermont, Los Feliz; Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 2 p.m.; extended through July 21. (213) 761-7061, (866) 811-4111 or https://www.SkylightTix.org. Running time: two hours and 15 minutes with one intermission.
