Lonny Price to Direct New BONNIE & CLYDE Musical at Georgia's Aurora Theatre

Though Bonnie & Clyde closes on Broadway tomorrow, December 30, the story of the infamous duo will live on at Georgia's Aurora Theatre in 2012. Bonnie & Clyde: A Folktale has attracted an impressive creative team for the premiere of this new musical at Aurora Theatre in March 2012. Storied Broadway veteran, award-winning Lonny Price will direct, while the magnificent Josh Rhodes, having worked on the show through development, will choreograph. It is no wonder the project has attracted world-class talent. The musical is the brain child of Broadway stars Hunter Foster and Rick Crom. Aurora Theatre Associate Producer Ann-Carol Pence joins as musical director. She discovered the show while attending the New York Musical Theatre Festival, a place where new shows like Tony Award-winning Next to Normal got their start.

Aurora Theatre Associate Producer Ann Carol Pence explains why Aurora Theatre is producing this musical, “What originally spoke to me about Bonnie & Clyde: A Folktale was its irreverent comic sensibility and laugh out loud humor. The music and lyrics are superbly intertwined and propel the story forward, which is hard to find in a lot of the new musicals. Ironically, the depression era sentiment toward our government and the banking industry mirrors the frustrations of the very people sitting in our theatre.”

Funny, tuneful and historically dubious, Bonnie & Clyde: A Folktale is a good ol' musical about the bad ol' days. Set in depression era Texas, the story follows America's most romantic gangsters. Bonnie & Clyde outwit and outrun a relentless J. Edgar Hoover to the delight of the poor and downtrodden, as their relationship blossoms from "strictly business" to passionate romance. Creator Hunter Foster will join Mr. Price in Lawrenceville for casting in December.

Aurora Theatre has an artistic commitment to new musicals and Producing Artistic Director Anthony Rodriguez is proud to state, “We see the potential for tremendous growth and national recognition through fostering new musicals.” He goes on to explain, “How extraordinary for our patrons to get to see a show on its way to Broadway or before winning its first Tony or Drama Desk Award.”

More about Lonny Price, Rick Crom and Hunter Foster

Lonny Price (Director) – directed and co-authored the Ed Kleban musical A Class Act on Broadway (five Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical). He won an Emmy for his film of Sweeney Todd (broadcast on PBS), directed the original cast reunion performances of Falsettos that inaugurated Playwrights Horizons' new complex on Theatre Row and staged the Broadway musical Urban Cowboy. Previously on Broadway, he directed Joan Rivers in her Tony-nominated turn as Lenny Bruce's mother in Sally Marr...and her escorts (co-authored with Ms. Rivers and Erin Sanders). Off-Broadway, he supervised the Manhattan Theatre Club's remounting of Athol Fugard's Valley Song and directed Jules Feiffer's Grown Ups, Jeff Baron's Visiting Mr. Green (starring Eli Wallach). He has worked with Patti LuPone on a series of staged concert versions of musicals including Pal Joey (Encores!, with Peter Gallagher), Annie Get Your Gun (Lincoln Center with Mr. Gallagher), Sweeney Todd (Lincoln Center with George Hearn and the N.Y. Philharmonic) and A Little Night Music (the Ravinia Festival with Mr. Hearn and Zoe Caldwell). He was staff director of ABC's One Life to Live (Emmy nomination) and is the former artistic director of Musical Theatre Works, where he is currently resident director. As an actor, he has appeared on and Off-Broadway in a variety of plays and musicals including Burn This, The Immigrant, MASTER HAROLD...and the boys., A Class Act and Merrily We Roll Along, receiving an Obie, Theatre World and Drama-Logue Awards.

Rick Crom (Music & Lyrics) – is an award-winning actor, singer, comedian, lyricist, and composer. He has appeared in numerous television shows and specials, Broadway and off-Broadway musicals. Crom wrote the book, music, and lyrics for NEWSical, created the Star Trek spoof Space Trek with bookwriter Marc Lipitz, and authored the topical musical revues Oh Fine RSVP!, The Subject Was Neurosis, Absolutely Rude, and Our Life and Times. He has 3 times been nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.

Hunter Foster (Book) – originated the role of Bobby Strong in the Broadway and Off-Broadway companies of Urinetown (Outer Critic and Lucille Lortel Award Nominations) and was a Tony Award nominee for his portrayal of Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. Hunter has appeared on Broadway in: Million Dollar Quartet, The Producers, Grease, Footloose, Les Miserables and Alan Menken's King David. As a writer, he has penned books to the musicals Summer of '42 (which premiered off-Broadway, 2002) and the upcoming Fearless. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan's Musical Theatre Program (BFA, 1992).

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