Bonnie & Clyde Held Up Our Hearts with an utterly Ravishing Show – Minnieapolis

This year’s new member’s musical, Bonnie & Clyde, continued not one but two crucial new member’s musical traditions: using copious amounts of stage blood and making me cry. Of course, these two events were wholly related.

For the uninitiated, this performance slot is reserved for ‘newbies’ in theatre and is a trial-by-fire initiation ceremony to be a true member of Musical Theatre in St Andrews. Everything is done by new-members, the Directing, Conducting, Tech, Stage Managing—even the stage crew! And, if you have ever stared in horror-stricken awe at a tech desk, you’ll understand that this is no easy task. Bonnie & Clyde, however, took this challenge easily within its stride, due to being led by two incredibly experienced master’s students: Leia Ransley directing, and Turner Prewitt producing. Both have made such an impressive splash into theatre within their first year, that it’s no surprise that this show was easily one of the most successful productions that I have seen in years—proving that the New Member’s Musical gets more and more impressive each year.

Hermione Hampton

Bonnie & Clyde the Musical focuses on the titular duo from childhood to their (spoiler alert!) deaths. Though, this isn’t really much of a spoiler as the show opens with them in a car being shot down, and from there we jump back in time to their childhoods. The show stole our hearts (pun intended) and the one word that came to mind whilst watching the production was seamless. Utterly seamless, to the point that I at times almost accused them of using backing tracks because the orchestra sounded so professional—impressive work from Fergus Tong who completely deserved the rapturous applause he received.

The ensemble were excellent, but Bonnie & Clyde is mostly carried by its four leads, who sing most songs and take up most scenes. Fortunately, this show was casted to perfection with a star-studded cast of May Tomlinson, Ian Crews, Bella Yow, and Ben Stockil. Crews performed easily one of the strongest acting performances I have seen this year as Clyde, portraying both the anxieties and hubris of the character with ease, and bouncing off Tomlinson’s (utterly ravishing) Bonnie with banter at impressive speeds. These two had one of my favourite scenes within the show, in which Bonnie is removing a bullet from Clyde’s shoulder and the physicality the pair displayed (with Tomlinson tapping her foot in disgust) made the scene utterly visceral. Tomlinson as the ravishing redhead herself was so impressive, and her vocals were incredible. Every time she walked on stage, she endeared me more to Bonnie and her need for stardom, including her signing autographs whilst holding up a bank (and my heart). The introduction of her in red lipstick during Act 2 was a cute note, highlighting the change from the sweet country girl she once was. The chemistry between Tomlinson and Crews was completely convincing and made their final moment— Too Late to Turn Back Now— such a tragic moment that I started crying for a second time.

Hermione Hampton

Yow’s performance was another highlight of the show, carrying both the comedy and the tragedy on her back. Her Blanche started as a sassy, god-fearing, yet loving character with one of the best comedic songs in ‘Buck You’re Going Back to Jail,’ performed alongside a hilarious ensemble of Emma Koonce, Anna Thompson, and Mary Kalinski, in which they all seemed to enjoy life whilst their husbands were in jail a little too much… Though, in the end, the song worked, and Ben Stockil’s Buck relented and turned himself back in. Another brilliant moment was when Yow appeared in the most stylish riding pants I have ever seen (as they’re far more comfortable for long-distance travel) for an excellent comedic moment, before having to wear this (slightly hilarious) outfit for the saddest scene of the show: Buck’s death. Featuring an impressive amount of blood (and cementing this academic year as the year of blood between Bloodletting, Prospect Creek, and now Bonnie & Clyde) and causing me to sob in 601, Yow and Stockil’s death scene was utterly heartbreaking—and was carried by Yow’s impressive acting performance, a complete 180 from her initial introduction as Blanche. For her final show in St Andrews theatre, this was such an impressive performance that truly cements her as one of the MUST greats. 

All the performances were cemented by impressive choreography from Sophie Rose Jenkins, something especially showcased during When I Drive. Featuring lots of tire rolls, a counterbalance, and Ben Stockil dancing elbow-first, the number was so impressive and had such an incredible blend of vocals that highlighted the range of the male singers. All the singers in the cast melded so beautifully and made each song a delight to listen to—although some of the (impressively intense thanks to impressive work from intimacy coordinator Abi Young) make outs did mess slightly with the mics, which was an unavoidable inevitability and did not detract from the performances. The musicality of the show was a huge strength of the production, impressive work from first-time Vocal Musical Director, Emma Legowski, as well as the cast themselves who clearly put in the time and effort to make the show sound the best it could—particularly both Anna Thompson and Roseanna McNaught Davis who played Young Bonnie and Clyde respectively, and who opened the show with their impressive performances. McNaught Davis particularly had an impressive physicality with her repeated ‘bang bangs’ as she presented Clyde’s loss of innocence.

For a show that is so anti-stage crew, relying on a set change every five words, the stage crew not only stepped up to the challenge but absolutely dominated— with an impressive amount of exuberance, darting across the stage grabbing furniture that normally takes four people to manoeuvre (shoutout to Taz Madan who carried a huge table by themselves) and practically throwing it off stage to make quick changes in under twenty seconds. For those who don’t do theatre, completing scene changes in such a short amount of time is near unheard of, as we are student theatre. However, the stage crew may have been (at times) a little over-exuberant, as there was a moment that a member of the crew was crouching (like an Olympian about to start a sprint) in full view of the audience. At the interval, I heard mentions of a fan-club around this person (which I am personally joining) and we can’t wait to see more of our #number1stagecrewmember. The practically Herculean task that the stage crew succeeded at so impressively is a testament to Darcey Bateson’s stage management, and I hope to see more of her work in the future.

Hermione Hampton

One of the main (and most impressive) elements of the set was the use of projections in place of a backdrop. Anoushka Paymaster Thatcher hand-drew all the projections, which worked perfectly to create an idea of the open roads that Bonnie and Clyde drove along, as well as the woods where they met their families. However, I will say that some of the projections—notably the wanted poster and the modelling photo— did work slightly as a detriment, causing the audience to laugh. I think this could have been avoided by using historical pictures, rather than ones that seemed to make the friends of cast members giggle and pulled the audience out of the world of the show thanks to a backdrop of the small rehearsal room. Overall, though, I would say that the projections were an innovative and creative method of utilising the smaller venue’s increased technological capacity, along with circumventing St Andrew’s larger set issue (or the lack thereof) that has plagued shows (and their reviews) for years. Using the projections allowed for Lily McCarthy’s minimalist set (due to the countless scene changes) to look stylish, whilst the music also set the scene with the continuous snake rattle that made my heart warm every time I heard it.

Teigan Ferrie

Overall, whilst the figureheads of the show behind the scenes (both Turner and Leia) and on stage (Yow and Tomlinson) are all graduating, I sincerely hope that the rest of the cast and crew continue in theatre in St Andrews. The show was utterly seamless, and my critiques at time feel (at least to me) slightly nitpicky, and this is entirely due to the hard work of the entire cast and crew. The New Member’s Musical is such a sink or swim challenge for newbies, and the entire team took to the stage like fish to water. I truly cannot wait to see what everyone becomes—and Bonnie & Clyde was utterly deserving of their shelly win for ‘Best Affiliate Performance,’ being the first New Member’s Musical to win the award in years.

By Minnie Thompson