Show: Bonnie and Clyde
Society: New Victoria Theatre (professional productions)
Venue: New Victoria Theatre Woking
Credits: By Ivan Menchell, Don Black and Frank Wildhorn. Produced by Adama Entertainment, Scott Prisand, Timothy Boynton, Alvin Providence and Fourth Wall Live
Type: Sardines
Author: Paul Johnson
Performance Date: 23/04/2024
Bonnie and Clyde
Paul Johnson | 25 Apr 2024 10:04am
Photo: Richard Davenport
Once again, Woking’s New Victoria Theatre (and ATG’s old HQ) has proved that it is the ‘go to’ place – away from the West End – for musical theatre in the South East.
Coming through Woking this week is the touring production of Bonnie and Clyde and it is the West End version at the Garrick Theatre which starred Gordon Luke Cage and Frances Mayli-McCann (virtually on Leicester Square) that Surrey’s audiences are lucky to see. The only difference might be one or two cast members the have had to bite the dust in order to take the show around the country.
Did you know that nothing rhymes with Clyde and Bonnie? As we are told by Bonnie (Katie Tonkinson) at various points throughout the evening as the self-declared published poet defends her decision to stop her partner-in-crime from reversing their ‘label’.
It a long show which went up twenty-five minutes late, due to Catherine Tyldsley’s illness which only came on at 7.30pm (we were told by the venue’s marketing department). Goodness knows what was happening behind the curtain but all we can safely say is that her understudy (who must, sadly, remain nameless) went on for her and worked her socks off in a near-perfect performance, from the audience’s point-of-view, that included an excellent deep-south accent. Well, covering for the person at the top of the bill cannot be easy so it was nice to see the audience respond to the address with a round of applause.
As mentioned accents are deep-south-based and were excellent thoughout the entire cast. That goes for Alex James-Hatton (Clyde), Sam Ferraday (Clyde’s brother, Buck Barrow), Daniel Reid-Walters (Ted Hinton, a postman), AJ Lewis (the local Preacher) and the previosly-mentioned Katie Tonkinson (Bonnie) and Tyldsley’s undestudy of course.
The six-piece musical accomplishment is under MD Issie Osborne (I think; there are a lot of credits for orchestrations) and it is one of the highlights. The mix of the deep-south with the era of The Great Depression is sublime and authentic.
It’s odd to think that the whole sorry tale really happened. There are several aspects missing such as other members of The Barrow Gang, but, I guess, there is only so much you can fit into one show.