Bonnie & Clyde
A musical love story, doomed from the start, but with enough heart to steal you away until the final curtain.
Norwich Theatre
Norwich Theatre Royal audiences are transported back in time this week to 1930's America, to the Great Depression and to the story of two bandits who went on to become a part of American folklore. Direct from the West End, where it was named Best New Musical in the 2023 What's On Stage Awards, 'Bonnie & Clyde' is a now on a 28 venue tour of the UK that began in Leicester on February 22nd.
After a startling hail of bullets in which we learn of the deaths of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow during a shoot-out with police, we are transported back to 1930, where Bonnie (Katie Tonkinson) is a waitress in Texas dreaming of becoming a film star (“Picture Show”), and Clyde (Alex James-Hatton) is in jail with his brother Buck (Sam Ferriday). However, Clyde already aspires to be as notorious one day as Al Capone or Billy the Kid (“The World Will Remember Me”).
After Clyde and Buck break out of jail, love blossoms between Clyde and Bonnie. Meanwhile, Clyde's sister Blanche (Catherine Tyldesley) persuades Buck to return and serve his time (“You're Going Back to Jail”). Towards the end of Act 1, Clyde is recaptured, leaving Bonnie and Blanche to deliver the showstopping duet, “You Love Who You Love”.
It is only in Act 2 that the crime spree that made Bonnie & Clyde so notorious, properly kicks off. Under Nick Winston's direction, this becomes a musical that carefully walks the line between love story and gritty reality, sparing us from much of the gratuitous violence and the harsh realities of prison life in which some previous filmed versions revelled. Instead, Don Black's lyrics and Frank Wildhorn's music concentrate on the twin romances, and the pain of seemingly doomed relationships, as the story motors towards its violent and inevitable finale, and the heartbreaking “Dyin' Ain't So Bad”.
Congratulations to all of the cast, but especially to Norfolk-based Katie Tonkinson, who clearly has a lot of fans in the audience tonight. Her returned slap in the face to Clyde during the argument in Act 1 receives a spontaneous outburst of cheering and clapping. Together, she and Catherine Tyldesley create a powerful partnership on stage, fiercely independent but both hopelessly in love with their men. Alex James-Hatton and Sam Ferriday turn in creditable performances, warm enough to be liked, yet cold enough to never let us forget exactly what they are – hardened criminals on the run.
Supporting the main cast are Daniel Reid-Walters as policeman, and former suitor of Bonnie, Ted Hinton, and Jaz Ellington as the Preacher. Both are excellent. The band, under the direction of Issie Osborne, strike exactly the right note, treading the path between speakeasy and dramatic accompaniment with consummate ease. I am not completely sure about Philip Witcomb's set design - video projection seems to be the way forward with musicals these days, although the bullet-ridden surround is impressively gangster-like, and the transformations from jail to diner to open road are seamlessly slick.
Enjoy 'Bonnie & Clyde' for what it is, a musical love story, doomed from the start, but with enough heart to steal you away until the final curtain.
