A new concept for Ivan Menchell, Don Black, and Frank Wildhorn’s Bonnie & Clyde musical comes to the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, headed by director J. Scott Lapp. Lapp has a long history with the show, from assistant director at the La Jolla production in 2009 through the Broadway run in 2011.
This production of Bonnie & Clyde is revamped from the Broadway show, condensed into a smaller, chamber-sized musical. The cast is cut down to 10 people, with the ensemble members playing multiple parts. “You lose all the bells and whistles of a big Broadway production, and it puts the focus on the story and these kids and their relationships,” says Lapp. “It’s an intimate look at Bonnie and Clyde.”
The musical follows the titular outlaw couple through their crime spree in depression-era Texas — but, says Lapp, these characters “aren’t just killers.” While Bonnie & Clyde tells the story of outlaw lovers, it’s also the story of brash kids with precious few options, says Lapp, who points out that Bonnie and Clyde were only 18 and 20 years old when they met. “Bonnie is a dreamer; she wants to be famous. Clyde is just trying to get out,” he says. “His family is in West Dallas in the dust bowl in the 1930…. Clyde had bigger dreams than that, too, and when the two of them finally found each other, it became the perfect storm of a relationship.”
With a jazzy soundtrack behind this rebellious love story, Bonnie & Clyde is a gun-slinging adventure story of kids seeking fame and fortune against a bleak backdrop of economic desolation. “The show really is about crime and passion and sex and rock ’n’ roll,’” says Lapp, “and this production is going to highlight that.”
See the show at the Rubicon Theatre (1006 E. Main St., Ventura) May 3-18. See rubicontheatre.org.
