Bonnie and Clyde – The Musical review

When Bonnie and Clyde – The Musical opened on Broadway in 2011, it ran for just a month before closing. But there’s more to a piece of musical theatre than its Broadway success, and productions have taken place all over the world since. It’s easy to understand why – there are several high points to Frank Wildhorn’s diverse score, while the mythology built around Clyde Barrow and his gang is the stuff of American legend.  

Nick Winston’s production began life in concert form early in 2022, progressing to a full production at London’s Arts Theatre, catching the eye of critics and winning a WhatsOnStage award for best new musical. This transfer to the Garrick is already scheduled for a longer run than the Broadway version ever managed, but even Winston’s production fails to solve this musical’s inherent problems.

The show opens with the ambush and killing of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, wanted for multiple murders and robberies. The story then jumps back in time in an attempt to explain how things turned sour. The problem is book writer Ivan Menchell’s explanation proves less than persuasive. It skirts around the issue, hinting at poverty, ambition and coercion, instead focusing on the well-worn musical theatre tropes of romance, family and fame. Wildhorn’s lively score ranges from jazz to gospel, with a few soaring rock choruses thrown in for good measure. Yet tonally, the show is all over the place, which is a problem that even Don Black’s often sharp and incisive lyrics can’t solve. 

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