Sunday, November 8, 2009
Bonnie & Clyde Opens at La Jolla Playhouse
Stark Sands and Laura Osnes
La Jolla Playhouse begins preview performances November 10th for its world premiere of Bonnie & Clyde, the seductive and cinematic new musical which examines how a troubled Texas teen and a love-sick waitress became America’s most infamous couple, Depression-era outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
The creative team is made up of Frank Wildhorn (music), Don Black (lyrics) and Ivan Menchell (book), with direction and musical staging by Jeff Calhoun.
The cast features Tony Award-nominee Stark Sands (Journey’s End, Twelfth Night) as Clyde, Laura Osnes (South Pacific and 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.
An industry reading of the show took place previously at The Roundabout Theatre Company in early February 2009. The reading was directed by Jeff Calhoun, with music direction by John McDaniel. The cast was led by Laura Osnes as Bonnie and Stark Sands as Clyde. They were joined by Rob Evan, Kelsey Fowler, Natalie Hill, Michael Lanning, David Larsen, Jacob Levine, Brynn O'Malley, Geoff Packard, Tricia Paoluccio, Jessica Phillips, Nancy Ringham, Bart Shatto, Marty Thomas, Ben Thompson, Tad Wilson and Betsy Wolfe.
The show will begin previews on November 10, officially open on November 22 and run through December 20 at the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre in La Jolla, California. Tickets to Bonnie & Clyde are available by calling 858-50-1010 or by visiting www.lajollaplayhouse.org/.
