BWW Reviews: Derby Dinner Goes Big With BONNIE & CLYDE

"We're fairly sure they didn't say 'Darn.'"

That was the summary statement of the warning delivered to patrons of Derby Dinner Playhouse prior to a Saturday night performance of the venerable dinner theatre's latest production, the 2009 musical "Bonny & Clyde."

A member of perennial pre-show entertainment The Footnotes gives the curtain speech, ticking off all the eyebrow-raising material the audience will be subjected to: gunshots. Blood. Cursing. Adult situations. People in their underwear (and for a split second, even less). This rambunctious, in-your-face production, written by the collaborative team of Frank Wildhorn, Don Black and Ivan Menchell and staged by Derby Dinner co-producer Lee Buckholz, is a step in a different, mature direction for the company - and a very successful step it is.

That's not to say that Derby Dinner is a staid, sedate place with an early-bird special buffet that leads into safe, happy musical revues and old stage chestnuts. The regional institution with a 40-legacy has built a solid reputation and enviable audience base on the strength of top-quality performances and second-to-none production values that make the most out of both classics and more recent material. But for a theater that has earned its audience's loyalty with fare along the lines of the "Church Basement Ladies" series and mainstays like the Rogers & Hammerstein catalogue and the upcoming "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," this production is a risqué endeavor, perhaps warranting a preemptive address for more conservative ticket holders.

But if they were in attendance, they were drowned out by the laughter and applause of an audience enthusiastically appreciate of this sort of material. Buckholz has crafted a production that goes for broke embodying the hot, sensual, rebellious American tale of two people going for broke in a world that will not give them a break.

The creative team crafted a story and songbook that presents their story at a brisk pace, taking us back to their young days of childhood dreaming, through their coy early flirtations and fights, and plunges us deep into shenanigans that would turn them into outlaw celebrities - and would quickly go south. There is a certain level of glorification of two murderous criminals amid the rampant bank robbing and steadily rising body count, but it is always played against the strain it puts on those around them, from family to unrequited love interests. It's definitely a story of two young people living too fast to grow old, but it is a story that spoke to a generation of people whom hard times left with little to make of their own lives. How much approval the story deserves is up to whomever is watching.

Buchholz keeps the pace lively and the jokes well-played while finding all the emotional notes along the way. He also makes excellent use of the playhouse's thrust stage, placing a rustic barn front at the back of the house to frame the action, a baptismal beneath the traps for a rousing musical ode to salvation, and extensions that are employed for cutaway scenes and pragmatically used to allow the stage time to dry post-dunking. He also stations video projections above the stage, showing period photographs and documents to further ground this lively production in the reality of the pair's biography. The sightlines on these were not ideal from the third tier of seating, but the show did not suffer for inability to see.

As the tragic lovers, Michael McClure and Madeline Perrone have combustive chemistry onstage. Their passion is blush-inducing, and both bring powerful, soulful voices to the gospel, bluegrass and rockabilly tunes. Jordan Cyphert is a worthy accomplice as Clyde's brother Buck. Sara King brings perfect comedic timing and true soul to Buck's wife, Blanche. While her faith is played for laughs early, it ultimately provides powerful underpinning to the reality of the horrific trail of death Bonnie and Clyde leave behind them. Tina Jo Wallace also provides dramatic weight as Bonnie's mother, who must watch from afar as her daughter heads toward the inevitable conclusion.

My only real complaint on the material relates to the inclusion of an unrequited love interest for Bonny in the character of Ted, a lawman who pursues Bonny's heart, and, when she rejects him, pursues the Barrow gang to the bitter end. The love triangle is unnecessary and a slows the pace a bit with all the attention given to it, but that is no fault of this production or the performance of Edward Miskie, who exhibits fine voice and a pitiable disposition.

Something also has to be said for the cast's able handllng of the demands of the dinner theatre operation. This is no preshow-Act One-intermission-Act Two-curtain call process. These performers are taking orders, serving drinks, passing out desserts and ringing up checks at intermission. It's an entire extra night's work put on them, and they handle it without missing a beat or cue.

Without knowing the background, it is a mystery why this show had such a brief life on Broadway. Derby Dinner gives it a fantastic, fun, emotional staging that makes for a first-choice night of entertainment. Not to be missed.

"Bonny & Clyde"

Music & lyrics by Frank Wildhorn and Don Black, Book by Ivan Menchell

Directed by Lee Buckholz

At Derby Dinner Playhouse through March 29

For more information, go to www.derbydinner.com

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