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BrumHour saw Bonnie and Clyde at the invite of Wolverhampton Grand.
By Eleanor Lawson
Review: Bonnie and Clyde at Wolverhampton Grand
⭐⭐⭐⭐”Seductive AND hilarious”
Directed by Nick Winston, book by Ivan Menchell, music by Frank Wildhorn with lyrics by Don Black
A bullet hole smokes, fractured glass splintering out from the impact. We hear the sound of gunshots, and the lights come up on Bonnie and Clyde, covered in blood and slumped on each other. Dead. We all know how this ends, there was never any other way it was going to be.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed by police and shot to death in Louisiana in 1934. The couple became notorious for their spate of robberies, leaving a bloody trail behind them. They captured the American imagination and became somewhat celebrities through their crimes, a legacy which has endured through the decades. They made crime look glamorous and paid for their fame with their lives.
A never-satiated hunger for fame lies at the heart of this musical, which is directed and choreographed by Nick Winston. Bonnie (Katie Tonkinson) played as a charismatic dreamer who longs desperately to be a famous actress like Clara Bow, will justify anything if it brings her one step closer to the spotlight. Clyde (Alex James-Hatton) wants to be an iconic bandit like Billy the Kid and raise a little hell, seeing as he’ll never make it to heaven. If you’re wondering how to make a pair of bandits from the 1930s seem relevant and real to a 21st-century audience, fame is the way to do it. If you ask yourself what drove this young, madly in love couple to commit those crimes, we can all recognise the hunger to be famous, to have your name in lights. Our whole world is built around this impulse.
Tonkinson and James-Hatton have a brilliant, fiery chemistry between them which is the beating heart of the show. Without that chemistry, the show would be dead on arrival. Tonkinson in particular, however, is still as effortlessly charming and intriguing on her own.
A crucial theme embedded throughout is the possibility of salvation versus the temptation of sin. Clyde’s brother, Marvin Barrow (Sam Ferriday) escapes prison with Clyde but is persuaded by his devoutly Christian wife, Blanche (Catherine Tyldesley) to hand himself in and serve his sentence so they can make a fresh start. But in the midst of a depression and a long history of police officers tailing them as suspects, how easy is it to try and be good when being bad is just so tempting?
Bonnie and Clyde is in turns seductive and hilarious, while also pulling on the heartstrings. 90 years after the pair were ambushed and killed, the couple are still subject to a cultural frenzy of fascination and intrigue, and this musical shows no signs of that fascination dying.
Bonnie and Clyde is at Wolverhampton Grand until 9th March 2024. Discover what is coming up at Wolverhampton Grand here: grandtheatre.co.uk/whats-on. Bonnie and Clyde is currently touring until October 2024. Details here: bonnieandclydemusical.com.
