Aurora's Clyde 'n Bonnie" sticks closely to musical theater's classic formulas"
New show tells the story of the depression-era outlaws with song and dance
- Chris Bartelski
- Laura Floyd as Bonnie Parker and J.C. Long as Clyde Barrow in Aurora Theatre's "Clyde 'n Bonnie: A Folktale"
The recipe for making a successful musical is probably older and more familiar than your great-grandmother's recipe for apple pie. Take some rousing musical numbers, throw in a couple ballads, stir in a lot of romance (don't forget the comic villain and quirky sidekick), sprinkle with a handful of corny jokes, and then top the whole thing off with a big tap finale.
The new musical "Clyde 'n Bonnie: A Folktale," now on stage at Lawrenceville's Aurora Theatre through April 8, sticks pretty closely to that classic recipe. In fact, it treats the old recipe as if it's a scientific formula, adding each element in calibrated measurements and carefully placing everything in just the right place.
The result is an old-fashioned, energetic, crowd-pleasing musical in the mold of "Guys and Dolls," "The King and I" or "The Music Man." Those who love the old stuff will leave happy, but the show is unlikely to win any new converts to musical theater, and some may even feel that the formula has been followed too rigidly.