By Jennifer Mustoe, with Caden Mustoe
Two years ago, I fell in love with Salty Dinner Theater at their Valentine performance of Romeo and Juliet – Choose Your Own Adventure. Since then, I’ve rarely missed a SDT show. Why? Because they are lots of fun.
This year’s selection, Bonnie & Clyde: a love story, written by Daniel Brassard, is a bittersweet and somewhat unusual choice for the Valentine show. I talked to Mary Brassard, Salty Dinner Theater’s founder and owner (and wife of the playwright), and she said that they had asked the season ticket holders what show they’d love to see this season of love and it was an overwhelming request for a play about Bonnie and Clyde.
Mary, who has now become a dear friend, told me that she and Daniel did copious research so their play would be accurate. I was impressed with their research and how they were able to implement small details (did you know that Bonnie Parker was a poetess?) into the script. You’ll notice in the promotional photos, the Brassards found original photos of the notorious criminals and then recreated them with their actors. Very. Nice. Touch.
As with all Salty Dinner Theater performances, there are some inside/current jokes interspersed into the story, and there is a whole gag about Hunger Games that had my teenage companions and me (and the rest of the audience) laughing hysterically. Throughout the show, Clayton Barney, who winningly plays Buck Barrow, croons to the audience. He has a remarkable voice and his confidence is delightful. All the characters of the show hob nob with the audience members before the show. Barney was affable and fun, and set up a few details of the story that would soon unfold. His character also is one of the narrators, which helps, as this isn’t really a layered plot line. It is a history, which needs to be told as well as acted.
Ryan Sharette’s Clyde Barrow and Sheri Gillies’ Bonnie Parker had great chemistry and their physicality in the show was fabulous. We saw the show at University Mall’s Old Spaghetti Factory and the actors need to wind and wend through the tables and make it look like they are traveling along in a story, not through a restaurant. These two did this very well and made us feel like we were part of the show, not bystanders.
SDT regular Tonia Sayer plays Blanche Barrow, and is the other narrator, and she glides through the show with her natural grace and polished skill. I’ve seen her in several shows and in each, she portrays the character meticulously and well. I look forward to her performances.
Rounding out the cast is Madman, who plays lawman Frank Hammer. The couple sitting next to me, who told me they are season ticket holders, said they love Madman and can’t wait to see him in SDT shows. He really is a fun performer.
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Salty Dinner Theater always does a great job with costumes, and their sound is always perfect. You don’t know how nice good sound is until you don’t have it. Hooray for good sound at all of their shows!
There are three things I wish had been different with Bonnie & Clyde: a love story. When performing familiar plays (like Romeo and Juliet and Wizard of Oz, both of which were fabulous) typically audience members are asked to play a small part in the show. Tonight, audience members were pulled up to participate, but there weren’t really ‘parts’ for them, and it was a little disappointing. It’s always fun to see improv from audience members.
Also, all of the songs Clayton Barney sung while we were eating dinner (don’t get the lasagna–stick with the fettuccini) were current numbers. I would have loved to hear songs that were popular when Bonnie and Clyde were famous. I realize this was a stylistic choice and current songs encourage people to sing along. But because Bonnie & Clyde: a love story really does ring authentic, I’d have loved to hear music from that era.
Finally, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were murderers. This was never defined in the SDT play. I’m not exactly sure how this could have been detailed and not ruin the entire show, but I like truth and these two notorious people were, at the very least, flawed. They were criminals, and yes, they were more than robbers. I’d have liked to see them portrayed as not quite so ‘fun’. I think this cast and these writers have the talent to push their audiences to see Bonnie and Clyde as villans, not merely a madcap couple that get their money by robbing instead of working at jobs and still make the show worthwhile. I’d have liked to see this important but difficult detail because I have faith in Salty Dinner Theater’s writing and acting. It’s top notch.
However, let me be very clear. Bonnie and Clyde: a love story seems to be Salty Dinner Theater’s most challenging and compelling production to date. They have taken a rather tragic story and made it not only enjoyable, but the phrase: “we all choose our own path” is reiterated several times. They aren’t making Bonnie and Clyde heroes. But they are saying that they did love one another, and they did stay true to one another.
I admit, I was also intrigued to see this show as Utah Repertory Theater Company, which I’m associated with, is doing Broadway’s Bonnie and Clyde, the Musical, this fall and I wanted to see what SDT did with the same material. I applaud Mary and Daniel Brassard. They represented this story with clarity and style.
The ending, which I won’t reveal, is very sweet and leaves us with a Valentine-ish feeling.
Bonnie & Clyde: a love story
February 8-16. At various locations (see website for information). $8.00 for children, $15.00 adults (dinner is additional)
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