La Jolla Playhouse announced today the addition of the world-premiere musical Bonnie & Clyde, to its 2009-10 season, replacing The Big Time. This production features music by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel), lyrics by Tony Award-winner Don Black (Sunset Boulevard, Song and Dance), book by Ivan Menchell (The Cemetery Club, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), and direction by Jeff Calhoun (Deaf West's Big River and Pippin, Grease!). Bonnie & Clyde will run November 10 - December 20, 2009 in The Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre.
Bonnie & Clyde is based on the lives of Depression-era outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, whose notorious exploits captured the country's imagination. This seductive and cinematic new musical examines how a troubled Texas teen and a love-sick waitress became America's most infamous couple, with a thrilling new score that combines rockabilly, blues and gospel music.
Responding to media requests, composer Wildhorn said "When I started working on this show, no one was talking about Bonnie & Clyde. Now, two new books have been published, a remake of the Warren Beatty/Faye Dunaway classic film is in production, and the FBI recently released close to a thousand pages of classified memos on the infamous couple. Clearly, they are once again piquing the interest of a troubled America.
This has been a musical challenge unlike any I've known before. These are the most incredible and intriguing characters I've given a musical voice to. Until now, the characters I've written for have been fictional; I've taken theatrical emotions and tried to make them real. With Bonnie and Clyde, I'm taking real emotions and making them theatrical. The exciting libretto, with its danger, pathos and comedy, has inspired a score from country to Texas blues, from gospel to ragtime."
As previously announced, La Jolla Playhouse's acclaimed 2008 production of Memphis will transfer to Broadway in October, 2009. Artistic Director Christopher Ashley, who helmed The Playhouse production last year, will direct the New York version as well. Ashley was originally slated to direct the Theatre's fall production of The Big Time, but due to his new Memphis rehearsal schedule in New York, The Playhouse has chosen the new musical Bonnie & Clyde as its final show of the season.
"We are overjoyed that Memphis has found a home on Broadway," said La Jolla Playhouse Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg. "We are confident that Bonnie & Clyde will be a sensational new musical for our audiences and a terrific finale to our 2009/10 season."
"The timing of Memphis' move to Broadway turns out to be wonderfully serendipitous for The Playhouse, as it allows us to bring our audiences the stunning new musical Bonnie & Clyde," noted Ashley. "From the creative dream team of Frank Wildhorn, Don Black, Ivan Menchell and Jeff Calhoun, this theatrical gem gives audiences a fresh look at the now-mythical tale of one of the most infamous couples in history."
Subscriptions to La Jolla Playhouse's 2009/2010 season are available by calling (858) 550-1010 or by visiting lajollaplayhouse.org.
In 1999 Frank Wildhorn (composer, Bonnie & Clyde) became the first American composer in 22 years to have three shows running simultaneously on Broadway: Jekyll & Hyde, Scarlet Pimpernel, and The Civil War, which altogether garnered eight Tony nominations. Wildhorn also wrote additional songs for Broadway's Victor/Victoria and was a producer and co-creator of Harlem Song at the legendary Apollo Theater. Most recently in the United States, Wildhorn's For the Glory: The Civil War Musical opened at the Majestic Theater in Gettysgurg, PA. He has enjoyed International success with Never Say Goodbye (written with Shuichiro Koike) performed by Takarazuka Revue in Takarazuka, Japan; Rudolf - The Last Kiss (written with Jack Murphy & Nan Knighton) opening in Budapest, Hungary and in Vienna, Austria and multiple productions of Jekyll & Hyde: In Concert.
