Review: Studio 18 Productions' Inaugural BONNIE & CLYDE Takes Too Long and Says Too Little

Have you ever seen a production where you thought that the actors where too good for the show? That's how it felt watching Studio 18 Production's inaugural show "Bonnie & Clyde" at 12th Avenue Arts. I am very impressed that this brand new company threw together such a talented cast for this musical, and at such an esteemed venue. Unfortunately, with its pandering plot line and repetitive score, this musical felt beneath the caliber of those involved.

Directed by Matt Lang, "Bonnie & Clyde" is a fluffy musical biography about partners-in-crime Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. In this 2 hour and 50 minute musical rendition written by Frank Wildhorn, these two libido-charged dreamers rob not for the grit or thrill, but in hopes of attaining their separate but similar dreams of lavishness. Clyde dreams of a life like Al Capone's; so to live a lifestyle where he does not have to worry about money. Bonnie dreams of quitting her waitressing job to be a movie star like Clara Bow. In this rendition, Bonnie and Clyde are not, in fact, partners-in-crime, but a constantly bickering couple (this bickering is also their foreplay) who probably should not be together and happen to commit crimes

Unlike the 1967 film version where Bonnie loves Clyde because of his free-spiritedness and criminal tendencies, in this musical, Bonnie loves Clyde despite his free-spiritedness and criminal tendencies. Bonnie disparages Clyde's delinquency, stripping her completely of the real Bonnie Parker's street cred. She often waits at home while Clyde commits the crimes, and when she does go along, she does so reluctantly. Her only glimmer of outlaw enjoyment comes when a young man asks Bonnie for her autograph while she and Clyde hold up a bank at gunpoint.

In case you missed it a few paragraphs back, the show is 2 hours and 50 minutes long, and in those 2 hours and 50 minutes, the plot circles round and round with Bonnie going back and forth between wanting to stay with Clyde and wanting to leave. The grit of this story is simply not there. Nothing about this version of Bonnie and Clyde feels hardened or rugged. When they do succeed in committing a crime, it reads as lucky, not practiced. The bumbling young lovers are clumsy, horny, and selfish, and cannot seem to escape their boredom even on the run.

The real Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were famous criminal masterminds. This production's Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow behave like egocentric teens in comparison. Truly, the two bring that out in each other as their dreams of stardom become more intense alongside a tough competitor (ahem, I mean, lover). We see that very plot line (and that very redundancy) in countless modern television series. An on-again-off-again couple with delusions of grandeur? If that's what you're going to focus on, get in line.

Even the musical score was repetitive. The songs had a little bit of ragtime thrown in here, some western there, but the humble nod to the Depression Era sound was not enough to spice up the songs. Act II consisted of six reprises, one of which was a second reprise. The closing number of the performance was a song that we had heard not once, but twice already, and lyrically, none of the songs where particularly unique or catchy. There was one standout song sung by Blanche (Kate E. Cook), Buck (Brian Pucheu) and an ensemble: "You're Going Back to Jail" was at least funny. And I'll be darned if Jasmine Jean Sim as Bonnie did not do her best with very banal material, belting out numbers such as "You Love Who You Love," and (no kidding) "Dyin' Ain't So Bad." These two song titles perfectly exemplify how surface-level the material was; and yet, Kate E. Cook and Jasmine Jean Sim put their whole selves in that material to create some pretty moving musical numbers.

Jasmine Jean Sim was a cool, confident Bonnie alongside Zack Summers' handsome, silver-tongued Clyde. Kate E. Cook's portrayal of Blanche was the standout performance for me: despite Blanche's conservative, tightly-wound perspectives, she had an almost Carol Burnett physicality that added light-hearted comedy to the character. As her husband, Buck, Brian Pucheau was sweet, a little dim-witted, and had great chemistry with Cook. I can't forget to mention how adorable and heartbreaking Randall Scott Carpenter's the well-meaning, hopeful Ted Hilton was. Though a secondary character, he had some really moving moments as he longed for Bonnie's love, truly only wanting the best for her.

I could not stop thinking while watching the performance how tone-deaf it felt to produce this show. Considering the socio-political tumult around gun violence in our modern society, to glorify two gun-wielding outlaws who murder more or less without consequence felt a bit tactless.

All in all I'm quite baffled that Studio 18 Productions would select this musical as their premiere production. The performers were truly this show's saving grace; props to all of them for staying high-energy through that tremendously long show (did I mention that it was almost three hours long?). Unfortunately, the caliber of performances did not outweigh the fact that, overall, "Bonnie & Clyde" has no reason to be on stage. For the performers efforts in this tedious flop, I give Studio 18 Productions' "Bonnie & Clyde" a rounded-up 2/5. Clearly Studio 18 Productions know how to cast, but even the best of performers couldn't make this show worthwhile.

"Bonnie & Clyde" performs at 12th Avenue Arts through Sunday, August 13th, 2016. For tickets and information, visit them online at www.studio18productions.org.

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