La Jolla Playhouse Announces Complete Cast of BONNIE & CLYDE, Sands & Osnes To Star

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to announce the complete cast of its world-premiere musical Bonnie & Clyde, 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), with direction and musical staging by Jeff Calhoun (Deaf West's Big River and Pippin, Grease!), playing November 10 - December 20, 2009 in The Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre.

The cast features Tony Award-nominee Stark Sands (Journey's End, Twelfth Night) as "Clyde," Laura Osnes (South Pacific, Grease) as "Bonnie," Two time Emmy Award-winner Mare Winningham (St. Elmo's Fire, off-Broadway's 10 Million Miles) as "Emma," Melissa Van Der Schyff (Deaf West's Big River) as "Blanche," Wayne Duvall as "Sheriff," Claybourne Elder as "Buck," and Chris Peluso as "Ted." The ensemble includes Leslie Becker, Daniel Cooney and Michael Lanning, as well as San Diego actors Courtney Corey, Michael Covert, Victor Hernandez, Michael Mulligan, Carly Nykanen, Mike Sears and UC San Diego MFA student Jessica Watkins.

The creative team includes John McDaniel, Music Director; Tobin Ost, Scenic and Costume Designer; Michael Gilliam, Lighting Designer; Brian Ronan, Sound Designer; Aaron Rhyne, Projection Designer; Shirley Fishman, Dramaturg; Paul Smith, Production Stage Manager.

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.

Tickets to Bonnie & Clyde are currently available by calling (858) 550-1010 or by visiting lajollaplayhouse.org.

BIOGRAPHIES

Stark Sands earned a Tony Award nomination for his Broadway debut in Journey's End. He also recently appeared in The Public Theatre's Twelfth Night with Anne Hathaway, the Classic Stage Company's production of The Tempest opposite Mandy Patinkin, and in the McCarter Theatre's production of A Seagull in the Hamptons. His film credits include Flags of Our Fathers, Chasing Liberty, Shall We Dance, and the miniseries Generation Kill. He also had a recurring role on HBO's acclaimed series Six Feet Under.

Laura Osnes is currently starring as "Nelly Forbush" in Lincoln Center's Tony Award-winning production of South Pacific. She made her Broadway debut in the recent revival of Grease, having won the role on NBC's reality competition "Grease: You're the One that I Want." Regional credits include Broadway: Three Generations at the Kennedy Center, A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie Theater, The Wizard of Oz, Disney's Aladdin, Cabaret, Pippi Longstocking and Working at the Minneapolis Children's Theater.

Mare Winningham has appeared on stage, screen, and in over sixty movies for television. Her work has earned an Academy Award nomination and two Emmy® Awards, among others. For her New York stage debut in Atlantic Theater's musical 10 Million Miles, Ms. Winningham was awarded the Lucille Lortel Award in 2008. As a singer and musician, Ms. Winningham most recently released an album of original Jewish Country/Folk songs, "Refuge Rock Sublime."

In 1999 Frank Wildhorn 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.

Don Black received two Tony awards for best book and lyrics of a musical for his work (with Christopher Hampton) on Sunset Boulevard. This marked his third collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber. They first joined forces to write the song cycle Tell Me on a Sunday which developed to form the basis of the stage show Song and Dance. They were reunited with Aspects of Love. He also wrote the lyrics for the Andrew Lloyd Webber produced Bombay Dreams. Awards include an Oscar for his song "Born Free," five Academy Award nominations, two Tony Awards and three Tony nominations, five Ivor Novello awards, a Golden Globe and many platinum, gold and silver discs. He has worked with some of the world's leading composers, including Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones, John Barry, Elmer Bernstein, among others. Black has written a quintet of James Bond theme songs: "Thunderball," "Diamonds Are Forever," "The Man with the Golden Gun," "Surrender" and "The World Is Not Enough." He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.

Ivan Menchell (book) wrote the screenplay for the popular film The Cemetery Club, starring Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis and Diane Ladd, which was based on his Broadway play of the same name. He also contributed material to hit Broadway musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. His off-Broadway credits include Smiling Through and We'll Meet Again. Television credits include: Writer/Producer of JONAS, Phil of The Future, The Nanny, Time of Your Life, Bedtime. Mr. Menchell is the recipient of a Fulbright fellowship for his playwriting and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Jeff Calhoun directed and choreographed the award-winning Deaf West Theatre production of Big River (Tony and Drama Desk nominations, Best Revival; Drama Desk nomination for Best Director of a Musical; Ovation and L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards for Direction and Choreography). Last season, he directed and choreographed the Deaf West Theatre production of Pippin at the Mark Taper Forum. He provided the musical staging for the hit Broadway musical Grey Gardens and developed the first original ASL musical, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, at the Kirk Douglas Theater. Tony Award-winner Joe Hardy and Jeff co-directed Himself & Nora at The Old Globe. He directed and choreographed the 1994 Broadway revival of Grease! (Tony nomination, Best Choreography) and co-choreographed the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun (Tony Award, Best Revival). His Broadway directing debut was Tommy Tune Tonight, and his collaboration with Mr. Tune led to the 1991 Tony for Best Choreography for the Will Rogers Follies. Audiences both in the United States and throughout the world have seen Jeff's world premiere production of Disney's High School Musical: On Tour. He is an Associate Artist at Ford's Theatre.

The nationally acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who's Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Dracula, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Jersey Boys, The Farnsworth Invention and 33 Variations. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-Art Theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

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