‘Bonnie & Clyde’ hit Sarasota with a big bang!
Laura Osne and Jeremy Jordan star in “Bonnie & Clyde.” CREDIT: Asolo Repertory Theatre.
JEANETTE BILLINGS
Staff Writer
jbillings@lbknews.com
How, you ask, can a gritty, depression-era based, American true-life story morph into a palatable, emotional stage musical? The answer is clear, with masterminds behind the scenes and real passion on the stage.
I was one of hundreds who attended the opening weekend performance of the Asolo Theatre’s “Bonnie & Clyde.” I adore American history, particularly of the depression-era; a time that brought out the best and worst of our culture. I wondered how, without becoming campy or maudlin, the production would portray the duo and the society that created an epic gangster saga. Well, my concerns were put to rest at the opening number.
A few bars into the opening number, “A Picture Show,” pure genius ignited the stage, transporting the audience to the dust bowl of over-farmed land that was Texas in the early 1930s. More captivating were the performances that grew from the cast of characters, which before your eyes transformed a starry-eyed girl infatuated with Clara Bow to a waitress named Bonnie Parker. Simultaneously introducing a young boy, Clyde Barrow, infatuated with headlining gangsters of the day á la Al Capone.
The infamous duo of Bonnie and Clyde is passionately played by Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan. Osnes originated the role of Bonnie Parker in the world premiere at La Jolla and won a San Diego Theater Critics Circle Award for her performance. She recently starred as Nellie Forbush in Lincoln Center’s Broadway revival of “South Pacific” and made her Broadway debut as Sandy in “Grease!” after winning the role on NBC’s reality competition series, “Grease: You’re The One That I Want.”
Jordan takes the role of Clyde Barrow following his Broadway performances in the revival of “West Side Story” as Tony and “Rock of Ages.” Not for the faint or prude of heart. Their combined talent and belief in characters lights up the stage more than the gunshots. Throughout the musical their combined star power draws the audience into the unfolding, and short lived, headline life of a gun moll and her headline-loving man.
The cast of supporting actors and their role in making this musical a must-see is endless. Particular credit must go to Melissa Van Der Schyff (Blance Barrow, Clyde’s sister-in-law) and Claybourne Elder (Buck Barrow, Clyde’s brother and Blance’s husband). The on-stage husband and wife ponder the choices between good and bad, gangster and God. A poignant moment in the show is the river baptism of Buck.
Mimi Bessette (“Little Shop of Horrors”) as Emma Parker, Bonnie’s mother, relates the fear and emotional struggles of a mother wanting the best life has to offer for her daughter. As do Victor Hernandez (Henry Barrow, Clyde’s father) and Leslie Becker (Clyde’s mother), whose combined life hardship was the norm of the day. From cotton farming, which ended at the onset of the drought, to tent living, Hernandez and Becker’s performances resonate with candor, pain and heartbreak.
Frank Wildhorn’s musical prowess and emotional connection to the story brings everything together. Using rockabilly, blues and gospel, he brings the tale of a waitress and a man who lived the hard life of a criminal, prisoner and gritty news headliner to life.
Wondering how this project began? One evening in 2006, Wildhorn (“Jekyll & Hyde,” “The Scarlet Pimpernel” and the coming Broadway musical “Wonderland”), the musical genius behind the production, gave director and choreographer Jeff Calhoun (Deaf West Theatre’s “Big River” and “Pippin,” and Broadway’s “Grease!”) a CD containing three songs he’d written with song-writing legend Don Black (“Sunset Boulevard,” “Song and Dance”) for a musical version of “Bonnie & Clyde.” Calhoun listened to them the instant he got home and called Wildhorn the next morning to accept directorship. Now they needed a book writer.
Enter Ivan Menchell (“The Cemetery Club,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”), who Calhoun had met years before and desperately wanted to work with. Knowing he was the right guy for “Bonnie & Clyde,” he flew to Menchell’s home in California, only telling Menchell that he had three songs he needed to hear.
Menchell loved the music but said he didn’t feel he could write the story.
“I’m a Jewish boy from New York. I can write Jews on a shopping spree but not gentiles on a shooting spree!”
Calhoun told him that anyone smart enough to say that off the top of his head could write anything. Menchell acquiesced. And the rest is, as they say, history.
With musical supervision and orchestrations by John McDaniel; set and costume designs by Tobin Ost; lighting design by Michael Gilliam; sound design by Kevin Kennedy and countless design and direction experts, this play is pure magic.
The voices, costumes, characters, set-design, music, lighting and ambiance all meld together to create one of the best on-stage musical dramas I have seen in years. Broadway bound, this is the must-see play of the season. If you see nothing else, go nowhere else, buy tickets to this show!
“Bonnie & Clyde” runs through Dec. 19 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre. A new musical about the couple that was made in America. Bonnie and Clyde’s America was one of economic, agricultural and political events in history that had staggering social and cultural effects, which not only shaped those who lived through it, but would be felt for generations to come.
“Americans have fought one war to win their independence and another to preserve the Union. Now they face a new war, between the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess.” –Former President Theodore Roosevelt on the Great Depression.
Call the box office for tickets at (941) 351-8000 or visit AsoloRep.org.
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