This charming and campy musical invokes the infectious playfulness of a Saturday morning cartoon

Bronco Billy (Tarinn Callender) and his traveling Wild West show have 30 days to prepare for a Hollywood audition; Antoinette Lily (Emily Benjamin) needs to spend the next 30 days in hiding. Following a chance encounter at a gas station, Antoinette joins Billy’s cast of misfits for “just one show”, and quickly falls in love with the thrill of the performance and perhaps something else. What follows is a charming, campy musical that is a lot of fun to be a part of.

Standout in this production is the quality of its cast, and the script provides ample opportunity for them to show off. Victoria Hamilton-Barritt steals every scene she appears in as the evil stepmother Constance, channelling equal parts Cruella Deville and Wicked Witch of the West in a wonderfully pantomime performance. Both leads have voices which carry real power and emotion, as do the ensemble: from the sonorous Karen Mavundukure as the show’s ringmaster, to Constance’s cartoonishly menacing and frequently hilarious stooges.

Cartoonish is very much the word here, with Bronco Billy evoking the anarchic playfulness of Saturday morning animation – there are clear good guys and bad guys, thrilling action scenes, and a descent into farce is never far away. As a result, the show is likely to be quite divisive – if you’re looking for three-dimensional characters, a complex plot, or groundbreaking theatre, then this isn’t the production for you. But as someone that often seeks these things, Bronco Billy’s infectious enthusiasm brought me along for the ride and I had a very enjoyable evening.

The show’s momentum builds over its runtime, as audience and script get properly warmed up. A forgettable opening number is trumped by an upbeat toe-tapper to begin the second half, shortly followed by a rich duet which is the musical highlight of the evening. Indeed, as Antoinette’s presence brings new life to Billy’s show, the action onstage livens up as well: Constance and her henchmen make more of an appearance, generating most of the big laughs of the night, and the songs become punchier and less by-the-books.

The band is sparse – composed of only five performers – but manages to fill the theatre from the balconies either side of the audience. This combines with a somewhat rickety set to give a sense of community to the production, rather than the glitzy perfection of many West-End musicals. Overall, Bronco Billy gets off to a slow start. But a talented cast, infectious playfulness and campy production make for a highly enjoyable evening.