WARNING: This review contains spoilers.
Last night, Tuesday 27th February, we were invited to the first showing of Bonnie & Clyde: The Musical at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud theatre. On its tour, the West End production provides us with a chance to experience the lives of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the two bandits who spent over two years on the run in the United States in the 1930s. Taking us from their childhoods to their deaths, this story gives the audience a fabulous timeline of their lives, focusing on family, crime, love and everything in between.
Taking us from their childhoods to their deaths, this story gives the audience a fabulous timeline of their lives, focusing on family, crime, love and everything in between.
The musical starts off strong with the song Picture Show illustrating the dreams of young Bonnie and Clyde, before they had even met. It was one captivating start to the show; immediately immersing us in the story, the stage demanding our attention. The musical had a rich and coherent mix of emotions, one that made the audience invested in Bonnie, Clyde, and the people around them as individuals. It showed the unseen parts of crime, the parts where family members have complex feelings about their son or brother-in-law being a vigilante, and the parts where a mother is so heartbroken by the trouble her daughter is in, yet still choosing to love and protect her regardless of her criminality.
This story also brought us the love between Bonnie and Clyde, one that emerges out of familiarity and understanding and quickly becomes a danger to both of them when Bonnie chooses to join Clyde in his unlawful ventures. Their love is rich and humorous, shown in Bonnie’s poetry and Clyde’s pain at being away from her in prison. Their love is also treacherous; it is what drives them to their deaths in the end, a death which they agree in Dyin’ Ain’t So Bad is not a problem if they have each other. There is also a strong bond between Buck, Clyde’s brother, and his wife Blanche. While Blanche begs Buck to no longer aid Clyde in his dangerous ventures, Buck tries his best to make his wife happy, but is quickly faced with the dilemma of having to be by his brother’s side. When this happens, Blanche supports her husband in his plans, despite not agreeing with them. We see vivid and complex bonds between the two couples, with Blanche and Bonnie often arguing while Buck and Clyde often agree. Both couples present an intense example of fear and anxiety, and how love can attempt to overcome that, but perhaps not always succeed.
The pair playing Bonnie and Clyde delivered an amazing performance, and, in our humble opinion, did justice to the real Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Alex James-Hatton with his boyish, charismatic wickedness, is the perfect portrayal of Clyde, and Katie Tonkinson, the performer who played Bonnie Parker, had an exceptional stage presence which we are sure captivated the whole audience. Even better, the two had some of the most incredible chemistry we have ever witnessed - you could feel the love, passion, and madness whenever they were on stage together.
Even better, the two had some of the most incredible chemistry we have ever witnessed - you could feel the love, passion, and madness whenever they were on stage together.
While James-Hatton and Tonkinson are the main stars of the show, we cannot forget to mention the rest of the cast and the ensemble, who delivered absolutely amazing stage performances through their incredible singing and captivating dance moves. The cast is not huge, but each cast member has managed to make their character uniquely theirs, which helps the audience immerse itself even further into the story. But “diverse” is not an adjective which can be applied only to the cast - throughout the musical, we are introduced to a large variety of song genres. From energising rockabilly, to beautiful gospels, to emotional ballads, the constant switching between genres is a smart way to set up the mood for each scene while also keeping the audience’s attention. For us personally, You Love Who You Love is the one song that really hit the spot when it came to setting up the mood - one of us may or may not have been close to tearing up during that performance. Besides the beautiful lyrics and powerful performance of Katie Tonkinson and Catherine Tyldesley, the context behind the song, with it being the only time Bonnie and Blanche are in agreement, is absolutely heartbreaking.
Onto a more practical, perhaps nerdy bit – the stagecraft was phenomenal. The use of lights, curtains, projections, and props was remarkable. There were many random props that appeared at the start of the musical, making us really excited to see how they were going to be used, which did not disappoint. The lighting was also exceptional, there were instances where the lights would slowly change colour or intensity to signal to the audience that the ambience of the scene is about to change, which we found really cool! In some cases, when there was a need to portray the passage of time, projectors were used for scene-setting and storytelling, just enough to help the audience understand what happened. There were also skillful and smooth transitions between scenes, which, when paired with the use of projections felt like watching a montage in a Hollywood film.
There were many random props that appeared at the start of the musical, making us really excited to see how they were going to be used, which did not disappoint.
Suffice to say, we ended up having a wonderful two and a half hours watching the musical, and we would happily recommend you to check it out while it’s still in town - performances are running every evening up until Saturday 2 March, so hurry up and get your tickets from the Yvonne Arnaud website! And don’t forget to use our code BONNIE15 for a special discount - happy theatre-going!