Bonnie & Clyde The Musical review: ‘Superbly staged and brilliantly performed’

Words: Simon Button; Photography: Richard Davenport

The West End’s newest musical is actually an old one, albeit a ten-year-old show that hasn’t been fully staged in the capital before.

Is Bonnie & Clyde The Musical worth the wait? Indeed it is. Despite its flaws, it is superbly staged and brilliantly performed, with a couple of very sexy leads in Frances Mayli McCann and Jordan Luke Gage as the titular lawbreakers who go a bankrobbing spree across Depression-era Texas.

Opening with our antiheroes dead in their car after being gunned down by the police, this true tale might seem an odd one for a song and dance extravaganza and the show has a chequered history.

Written by Frank Wildhorn (music), Don Black (lyrics) and Ivan Menchell (book), it lasted less than a month on Broadway and has never returned to the Great White Way, although it has played everywhere from Japan to Sweden and has become something of a cult favourite over the last decade, so much so that a two-night concert staging (starring original Clyde Jeremy Jordan opposite McCann) at the vast Theatre Royal Drury Lane earlier this year was a sell out.

Jordan Luke Gaga as Clyde

Hence this new West End production, with the charismatic Gage (of & Juliet and Heathers fame) taking over the role of Clyde – a smalltown boy who dreams of being an outlaw while waitress Bonnie, whom he meets when her tyre needs fixing, yearns for fame.

Eventually, history tells us, they both got what they wished for and while it may seem wrong to root for this criminal couple McCann and Gage are such likeable actors (with such amazing voices) it’s hard not to when, in the second act, they take such comic delight in their newfound notoriety and her idea of the perfect I-love-you gift is a gun.

They’re a hard pair to steal a show from but Natalie McQueen does just that. As sharply funny as she always is, the 9 to 5 and Kinky Boots sensation plays Clyde’s sister-in-law Blanche with god-fearing gumption and exquisite comic timing.

Frances Mayli McCann as Bonnie

I couldn’t fault any of the other performers either, especially after proceedings had to be halted on opening night after someone in the audience took ill (could it have been because of the infernal heat in the Arts Theatre?) and they resumed it with no dip in energy.

What I can sometimes fault is the schizophrenic score – not the jaunty bluegrass and Gospel numbers but the overcooked power ballads and rock numbers which get reprised to death towards the end of an already too-long show. There’s also a subplot about a sheriff’s secret love for Bonnie that could easily be jettisoned.

Still, it’s a fun night out and a great showcase for its leading man and lady. At one point Gage’s Clyde has such a hardon for his new girlfriend he has to cover it with a pillow. With all its faults, I have a soft spot for Bonnie & Clyde.

Rating: 4/5

Bonnie & Clyde The Musical is at The Arts Theatre, London, until 10 July. For tickets click here.