‘Bonnie and Clyde’ storms the stage
They’re young. They’re in love. They rob banks. They kill people. And now, they sing. What’s more, they sing Frank Wildhorn songs — to Broadway critics, apparently the most heinous crime of all.
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, notorious Texas outlaws who cut a swath of crime across the South and Midwest in the early 1930s, return as stars of “Bonnie and Clyde.” Staged briefly on Broadway in 2011, the musical makes its Houston premiere as the first show of Theatre Under The Stars’ 2015-16 “TUTS Underground” series. Now in its third season, the series offers more intimate, contemporary shows than those in TUTS’ main series.
Barrow and Parker purportedly gained the status of folk heroes among some in the dark Depression days. Arthur Penn’s groundbreaking 1967 film “Bonnie & Clyde” cemented the legend — depending on your perspective, either telling their violent story as it was or inappropriately glamorizing the criminal protagonists. Though not based on the movie, the musical derives from the same facts and so covers much of the same narrative ground.
“Bonnie & Clyde” has music by Wildhorn, whose first and most popular show, “Jekyll & Hyde,” premiered at the Alley Theatre in 1990, made it to Broadway in 1997 and ran for almost four years. “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” a fun guilty pleasure, also managed an extended run of nearly two years. But all his subsequent works have been quick failures, with increasingly disdainful response from Broadway critics, especially for “Dracula” and “Wonderland.” They didn’t change their tune for “Bonnie & Clyde” — even though the word from regional tryouts had been promising, with several critics rating Wildhorn’s score a couple of cuts above his norm.
The show’s book is by Ivan Menchell, best known for his play “The Cemetery Club.” Lyricist Don Black is the most seasoned of the collaborators, having worked since the 1960s with many composers, most famously with Andrew Lloyd Webber on “Aspects of Love,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “Tell Me on a Sunday.”
TUTS artistic director Bruce Lumpkin, who’s co-directing the production, feels Houston audiences will appreciate “Bonnie & Clyde.”
“There’s an interest in the story because a lot of it took place in Texas,” he says. “Ivan Menchell’s book is well researched and true to the facts of the case. I’ve had the lead actors do a lot of research on their characters — not only Bonnie and Clyde but also Buck and Blanche.”
Buck Barrow, Clyde’s brother, and Blanche, Buck’s wife, also were members of the gang — which, though mostly considered “bank robbers,” more often held up gas stations and general stores.
“While not trying to justify their crimes,” Lumpkin says, “the show tries to have sympathy for them as human beings, to understand what led them to do the things they did. These were two kids in the middle of the Depression, both with deprived and troubled backgrounds. Once they were on the FBI’s most wanted list, they were alongside people like Al Capone. But they weren’t the same kind of vicious characters. They were children who were victims of their time. Things happened to them early on that earmarked how their lives would go. They’re not criminals by choice, but things happen and then keep escalating. They spent so much of their time driving, on the run. Much of the time, they were starving. Bonnie weighed just 88 pounds. We have to remember a lot of people at that time were doing anything they could to get by.”
Having Wildhorn as composer, Lumpkin feels, is another point of interest. Wildhorn has had a Houston following ever since “Jekyll & Hyde” premiered here.
“The music is really beautiful,” Lumpkin says. “Some of Wildhorn’s best stuff, with a different sound from his other shows, given the influences of folk and gospel and rockabilly. You don’t usually get banjos in a Wildhorn show. There are seven musicians in the band and every instrument has its distinct voice in the scoring.”
Lumpkin considers “Bonnie and Clyde” a good start for this season’s varied “Underground” lineup.
The holidays will bring the concert-style pop musical “Striking 12,” originated by the band Groove Lily, for its Houston premiere. The contemporary riff on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl” plays Dec. 17-23.
TUTS will present the world premiere of “Sweet Potato Queens,” March 17-27, inspired by the women’s organization founded by Jill Conner Browne and her series of books promoting women’s empowerment. TUTS previously produced the show in a workshop format. The music and lyrics are by Melissa Manchester, and the book is by Rupert Holmes, Tony winner for “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.”
The series will close April 28-May 8 with the Houston premiere of “Heathers,” the 2014 off-Broadway musical based on the popular film, a dark comedy about competition about a group of high schools girls whose social games turn deadly. It will play April 28-May 8.