Carleton’s Sock ‘n’ Buskin Theatre Company’s latest production, Bonnie & Clyde: The Musical, runs Jan. 29-31 at 8 p.m. in the Kailash Mital Theatre.
The show features a small live orchestra and a cast of university and high school students.
The show follows the lives of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, placed on the backdrop of America’s Great Depression, as they struggle through tough times. The two meet and are swept up in the excitement of young love—and the lure of crime to escape their poverty. Bonnie and Clyde are heralded as heroes to their penniless countrymen, taking their fate into their own hands with a fast 1934 Ford and a browning automatic rifle.
The play opens with a young Bonnie and Clyde singing about their childhood dreams despite their impoverished conditions. Within their innocent musings, they encapsulate the hope of America post-First World War for a better life.
Bonnie yearns for a life as a starlet waltzing through dreamy Hollywood, while Clyde chases the outlaw life of bandit “Billie the Kid.” The irony within the piece foreshadows their future, but their fame will not be sought on the silver screen, but on the most wanted list.
The show captures the struggle Bonnie and Clyde face—knowing their tirade cannot last forever. Instilled within the piece is a sense of foreboding towards their finale.
It can be felt when Bonnie sings her haunting solo “Dying Ain’t so Bad,” when she exclaims that dying would be bearable if her and Clyde were to find their end together.
Historical Palestine Daily Herald reveals the fulfillment of that wish, with the headline of “Barrow and Bonnie Parker Riddled with Bullets.”
The director of Bonnie and Clyde: The Musical is Madison Jolliffe, a second-year humanities student. Jolliffe said it was her first experience directing something of this scale.
“This has been really big for me,” Jolliffe said. “We have 20 actors, tons of backstage crew, a nine-piece band, lighting technician, and a stage manager.”
She said that they’ve been receiving great feedback from students and other theatre companies.
Galen Cussion, the keyboard musician in the orchestra, said that it had been one of the best musical experiences he’s been involved in.
“The talented band alongside an exceptional cast made the entire experience . . . unforgettable,” added third-year journalism student Calvin Miller.
Miller went on to to praise the efforts of the entire crew and production team.
“[Bonnie & Clyde] was the best Sock ‘n’ Buskin musical I’ve seen to date,” he said.
