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wherebettertoescape · 1 year

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Bonnie & Clyde - Garrick Theatre

This review does contain mild spoilers for the West End production of Bonnie and Clyde, talks of death, prison and abuse

Freddie attended the evening production of Bonnie and Clyde on the London West End on 6th May with her sister - please let me know what you guys think both of the review and the production in general!

The same moment that the lights dim in Garrick Theatre, loud gunshots ring out through the room and several of the audience members jump - myself included. I notice my sisters face of amusement at my reaction, but before she can comment on it, the music starts up - sounding as though it comes from an old-time gramophone. Then, a screen is lifted and Bonnie and Clyde appear - dead, in their car, the visual enough to raise the hair on my arms.

Even though the coronation celebrations are still causing the streets of London to be crowded with locals and tourists alike, the moment that Cleve September and his cast of fellow police officers take the stage, all thoughts of the new king are gone as I am swept back in time to the world of outlaws.

I did not get the chance to see Jordan Luke Gage acting as Clyde, but I have to admit after having had the opportunity to watch Barney Wilkinson instead I’m so glad. I had seen little about Wilkinson’s performances as the understudy Clyde, and he was one of the cast members who I was utterly unfamiliar with - but he completely blew past my expectations.

The first act ends with three very intense songs for Clyde - the duet with Ted, You Can Do Better Than Him, a song for Clyde that is vastly different from his other numbers. Yet Wilkinson captured the characters’ longing and love for Bonnie, and yet also conveyed with his expression the self-assured, almost cocky nature of Clyde with how he knows that even while Bonnie deserves better, she “won’t do better than [him]”, because she loves him. Contrasting with Septembers’ unconditional love for Bonnie, this number was truly remarkable and it’s hard to describe the atmosphere in the theatre when it came to an end.

Naturally, the musical number I had most been anticipating going into the audience for this show was Raise a Little Hell - the song that could be considered the soundtrack to the musical. I must admit, I wasn’t sure that anyone would be able to perform it with the same intense fury and grim determination as Jeremy Jordan. And while I am still partial to Jordan’s performance of the song, Wilkinson’s rendition was spine-chilling. His voice alone more than enough to set me at the edge of my seat, my breath caught in my throat as I waited for his next move - desperately wanting him to fight back and to confide in Bonnie. This paired with the choreography and staging of the number - the dark lighting and the image of Clyde, alone in his cell, his back to the audience for the first chorus of the song - united to show Clyde in a far more sympathetic light than before. No longer was Wilkinson portraying a poor man who kept winding up in trouble, he was instead creating an understanding between Clyde and the audience with the understanding that he has been beaten down his entire life, and no matter what he does now, nothing will get the weight of his past off of his shoulders.

Wilkinson’s expression throughout the song, especially following his decision to take matters into his own hands and to “make Ed Crowder pay” is haunting. There’s something almost manic about it as he sings, capturing what one of the real-life friends of Clyde referred to as his change “from a schoolboy to a rattlesnake”.

And here I must add in the comment that my sister made to me during the interval, after Wilkinson’s spine-chilling numbers of both Raise a Little Hell, and This World Will Remember Us: “I’ve just realised that they die. I’ve been rooting for them, and I’ve just remembered they die.”

Jodie Steele and George Maguire as Blanche and Buck truly blew me away. Perhaps it’s biassed of me to say as such, considering these two roles were always my favourites, but the two of them together had incredible onstage chemistry and carefully walked the line between providing the comedic relief early on in the show and yet also being able to tug at the heartstrings of the audience in the second act. Steele’s rendition of Now That’s What You Call A Dream was utterly heart wrenching, bringing great sympathy to a character previously so adept at the more comedic numbers, such as You’re Going Back to Jail- and I’m certain that when the West End cast recording of the soundtrack comes off I will be listening to it on repeat.

George Maguire came alive in When I Drive, channelling the relationship between him and Clyde in this fun number, rolling around a tyre between them. From an audience perspective, it felt as though Maguire and Wilkinson were just having fun together, attempting to make each other laugh, and I spent the whole number grinning, utterly convinced of the brotherly relationship.

Maguire and McCann both excel at conveying to the audience their characters’ inner turmoil. Both of them having loyalties in two completely different walks of life - for Buck, he’s torn between his love for his wife and the life she wishes they could have together, and his brother, who is utterly convinced that that life is one completely unattainable for either of them. Whereas for Bonnie, she can either choose the safe option and marry Ted, or Clyde, who is offering her the life of fame and fortune she has always wanted, though in a completely different way to how she had imagined it.

So adept was Maguire at showing Buck’s inner monologue, that when he has to choose between following Clyde in the second act, or remaining with Blanche where the police still won’t trust him, the woman sitting to my left whispered: “no, don’t do it. Choose her”. I have to thank that random fellow audience member, for voicing my own exact thoughts.

The role of Bonnie comes with numerous challenges in regards to vocals - the haunting high notes of Dyin’ Aint So Bad which contrast so strongly with the far more upbeat, swing-like How ‘Bout a Dance ensure that whoever takes up the mantle of this role must be comfortable with singing in multiple genres and possess an impressive vocal range. Frances Mayli McCann excelled in this regard - her enthusiasm with the more upbeat songs, both early on and in the second act was infectious, her rendition of Picture Show both as child and adult Bonnie brought a huge smile to my face to watch her singing and dancing around the stage - the picture of childhood glee and innocence.

McCall makes it impossible not to root for Bonnie - the slow transition from a dreaming girl trapped in a small-town life, unsure of the path of illegality Wilkinson’s Clyde is steering her down, to the quick-witted, devil-may-care woman who has accepted her fate and her love for Clyde.

One aspect of the casting that cannot go unmentioned is Frances Mayli McCann and Julie Yammanee as Bonnie and Emma Parker respectively - two Asian women giving phenomenal performances in key roles in the production. Considering that McCann herself states that “it was never a dream of [hers] to play the role”, on account of her thinking it was not “in [her] casting”, despite how much she had loved the original soundtrack when it was released. McCann’s words and exceptional performance at Bonnie, in particular with the difficult vocals in songs such as Dyin’ Ain’t So Bad, can give hope for the future of theatre being more representative and inclusive. I can only hope that any aspiring actors or actresses who had the chance to witness McCann’s performance are able to see now that your race, gender, sexuality or anything else should not be seen as a reason why you cannot play a certain role - as Jordan Luke Gage said in the interview: “Anybody should be able to play Bonnie”.

There are not many ensemble numbers in this production, but the direction and choreography certainly made them memorable. Particularly Made in America, with its harsh movements, the cast practically stomping on the stage, worked wonderfully to show how Bonnie and Clyde’s frustration with the system and they way things are extends much further than just the two of them, and explains why so many people did support and idolise the two rebellious outlaws.

Overall, the West End production of Bonnie and Clyde at the Garrick Theatre is well-deserving of its WhatsOnStage award for “Best New Musical”. With the use of physical humour that sent audiences into stitches, impressive renditions of vocally challenging songs, and two objectively bad characters who become so sympathetic throughout the musical, there is no doubt that this production does the original Jeremy Jordan production justice. I can only hope that it doesn’t take another five years for the next professional production, as even though I only saw it recently, I am desperate to return to the lives of Bonnie and Clyde.

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