Bonnie and Clyde: Armed and dangerous at Encore
The story of Bonnie and Clyde is well known to everyone, even if they don’t know the precise details of the Depression-era bank-robbing duo’s escapades. They are legend. That allowed writer Ivan Menchell to have lee-way with the tone and details of the young couple’s exploits to make them more sympathetic than perhaps they deserve.
The new production of Bonnie & Clyde: A New Musical at the Encore Musical Theatre in Dexter stays pretty close to the script and concept that premiered on Broadway in 2011, albeit scaled down to the black-box space the company has to work in. Director Ron Baumanis, who directed the show earlier this year for the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre at the larger Lydia Mendelssohn space in Ann Arbor, had his work cut out for him.
Adam Woolsey plays a fine Clyde, renegade and embittered by both the abject poverty in which he and his brother Buck (Peter Crist) were raised, and ambitious for more–whatever “more” is– amidst the Depression of dustbowl Texas. Sexy, ornery and full of nerve, Woolsey plays and sings his part with just a little Hank Williams in the lilt of his voice that helps sustain a play that even on Broadway, in this critic’s opinion, should have at least 15 minutes cut from its 2:30 length.
Mahalia Greenway (Wilde Award winner 2014 and 2015 for Best Actress in a Musical) as Bonnie, the two-bit waitress who is more attracted to the bad-boy excitement of Clyde Barrow than to the hand-to-mouth forlorn existence of her mother, has good chemistry with Woolsey, and plays convincingly the conflict in her heart between the girl who knows her Mama is right about Clyde being no good and the gun moll who smuggles a gun to her man in jail and ultimately points one at a bystander during a robbery. Greenway’s vocals are solid as ever.
The show, whose music is written by Frank Wildhorn and Don Black (Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde), tries to be a timeless story of those without trying to short-cut their way to a better life, versus not only the law but loved ones who prefer the God-fearing straighter path of work and following the rules—even if the pay isn’t as good.
Peter Crist steps up as a convincing Buck, torn between the love of his brother and love of his wife, Blanche (Liz Jaffe). Jaffe is a good foil to Bonnie, and she and Greenway grab the audience with their “Love Who You Love” duet about their longing for men who can’t stay out of trouble.
The ensemble, with a few carry-overs from Baumanis’s previous production, is quite strong, especially Lauren Norris as Clyde’s mother and some other roles. Her vocals stand out, as does her stage presence. Emily Rogers reprises her role as Bonnie’s mother Emma, and convincingly delivers her story as a widow afraid for her daughter’s future without it slipping to stereotype.
Daniel C. Walker had a job on his hands creating the single-set piece to handle all scenes, but the design worked hard to deliver everything from a jail cell to the Parker’s kitchen, a bank and more. That the gray and browns of the set, correct for Depression dustbowl, at times seemed to sap the energy of the production, probably couldn’t be helped.
Wildhorn’s music ranges from lament to gospel, but it’s not often lively. And so the energy of the show, even with gunfire, killing, bank robbing and a little simulated sex on stage, can be lagging at times. Still, Encore’s company turns in solid performances about one of the 20th century’s most infamous couples.