The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, January 13, 2015 — 5

‘Bonnie & Clyde’ 
to steal the show

Famous crime duo 

make their way 
to Mendelssohn 

Theatre.

By ALEX BERNARD

Daily Community Culture Editor

Through ice and snow and a 

wind that gives frostbite in the 
same way my mom texts me 
about getting a job (a lot), the 
cast and crew 
of “Bonnie & 
Clyde” lumber 
into rehearsal, 
shake 
off 

the cold, hug 
each other for 
warmth 
and 

settle 
in 
for 

a 
long 
night 

of practice – 
the final run-
through before 
they 
move 

into the Lydia 
Mendelssohn 
Theatre.

The 
space 
buzzes 
with 

movement 
and 
final 

preparations.

The 
assistant 
director 

tightens 
a 
screw 
in 
their 

trapdoor. An actor puts on a 
cowboy hat and clips a sheriff’s 
badge to his zip-up sweater. 
The whole cast pins numbers 
to 
themselves 
– 
makeshift 

microphones until they rehearse 
in a space that isn’t half the 
size of the Mendelssohn. The 
music director calls everyone 
together for warm-ups. 

And then “Bonnie & Clyde” is 

off and running. 

The musical tells the story 

of Bonnie Parker and Clyde 
Barrow, the infamous lovers 
and robbers who spent the 
Great Depression plundering 
and thieving in the central 
United States. Composed by 
Frank Wildhorn, “Bonnie & 
Clyde” opened on Broadway 
in December 2011, and starred 
Laura 
Osnes 
and 
Jeremy 

Jordan. 

This 
time 
around, 
Ann 

Arbor Civic Theatre brings 
“Bonnie & Clyde” to the Lydia 
Mendelssohn 
Theatre 
from 

Thursday, January 15th to the 
18th. Though the Broadway 
version closed after just four 
weeks (much to the chagrin of 
delighted audience members), 
Civic director Ron Baumanis, 
an Ann Arbor Civic Theatre 
veteran, believes crowds will 
be surprised by the musical’s 
unapologetic authenticity. 

In the opening moments of 

“Bonnie & Clyde,” the audience 
sees what a few bullets can do 
to a car door, a windshield and 
two kids. You might worry that 
this could deprive the play of its 
uncertainty and suspense, but 
Baumanis says the opposite is 
true. 

“The fun of a show like this 

is that the audience knows how 
it ends, even though the cast 
members 
don’t,” 
Baumanis 

said. “So the audience sees it 
coming from a mile away and it 
adds to some of the suspense.”

Baumanis is the first to 

admit that Bonnie & Clyde 
were 
anything 
but 
the 

idealized, 
front-page 
news, 

super criminals that history 
remembers them as.

“They were two dumb kids. 

When they died, they were 
25 and 23 ... They were kids. 
Imagine people at U of M 
graduating and suddenly going 
on a killing spree for the next 
two years. And (the police) shot 
‘em down.”

As I watched the cast – out 

of costume, off set – I found 
myself incapable of focusing 
on the notes I was taking for, 
well, this article. After all, how 
can you expect to write if you 
keep tapping your pen to the 
music? 
Stuck-in-your-head 

country numbers like “You’re 
Going Back to Jail” and “When 
I Drive” the gospel punch of 
“God’s Arms Are Always Open” 
Bonnie’s heartbreaking point 
that “Dyin’ Ain’t So Bad.” 

Whatever number it was, I 

had to wait until its end before 
returning to my notes to add 
checks and stars next to the 
song titles: Remember this one 
too. 

The show is a credit to Civic’s 

cast, who range in age from 
over-70s to in eighth grade and 
who will make you forget that 
they’re not earning a paycheck 
for this show. 

“These people are not ‘24/7 

theater.’ They all have jobs 
during the day so they come in 
from whatever they’re doing. 
We 
have 
a 
neurophysicist, 

and we’ve got a doctor and 
we’ve got accountants ... but 
they all have musical theater 
backgrounds,” Baumanis said.

You 
wouldn’t 
know 
it 

watching Baumanis’s cast. As 
Clyde Barrow, Dan Clair leads 
the show with an immensely 
entertaining, 
vein-popping 

vocal performance and an even 
better acting job. There’s no 
pretense or romanticization 
here. Clair’s Barrow is no hero, 
just a kid in way over his head.

Meanwhile, 
his 
Bonnie 

Parker, played by Kimberly 
Elliott, is charged with both 
reviving an American icon 
and not disappearing next to 

Clyde’s massive shadow and 
charisma. Where one might 
strive to outperform, even 
upstage her fellow lead, Elliott 
delivers a considered, cautious 
performance that stands tall 
against 
Clair’s 
electricity, 

setting a key foundation for 
Parker and Barrow’s obsession 
and moral degradation. 

But 
talent 
isn’t 
limited 

to Baumanis’s leads. Kyrie 
Bristle – who plays Blanche 
Barrow, Clyde’s sister-in-law 
– delivers heavy, emotional 
vocals with a nuance and touch 
that makes one wish she had 
her own musical, maybe called, 
“Blanche & Blanche”? I’d see it. 

To prepare their cast and 

the show, Baumanis and his 
music director Tyler Driskill 
received 
some 
first-hand 

advice from the writers of 
the show, including Frank 
Wildhorn.

“Our music director talked 

to Frank Wildhorn and said, 
‘What about this?’ and ‘Why 
this?’ and ‘Why is this harmony 
here?’ And they are super, 
super enthused about making 
their production work, because 
they love this piece of work.”

As though input from the 

director, writers and composer 
wasn’t enough, the cast also 
had a special visit to prepare 
them for the show’s passionate, 
often complicated, material.

“We had one of the cast 

members (Daniel Cooney) from 
the (Broadway) show come in 
and talk about the show and 
what it was like to do it in 
New York. It let the cast ask 
questions about characters ... 
and how people made choices 
about 
how 
they 
present 

certain scenes and songs.”

In their cramped rehearsal 

space, the leads danced two 
feet from my sneakers and 
about three feet from my lap, 
as I remembered something 
Baumanis told me earlier:

“It’s 
a 
more 
intimate 

musical than people are going 
to expect. You get to know 
these characters pretty well.”

The 
show 
will 
use 

projections 
and 
firearms, 

death and country, robbery 
and gospel music. But more 
than anything, Civic’s “Bonnie 
& Clyde” is a story about 
dedication and loyalty ... to a 
fault. 

“These are kids that were 

very much in love,” Baumanis 
said. “Despite the fact they 
were both idiots.”

Theater is just fancy lying; 

but these kids are real. Stupid. 
Hopeful. Doomed. But real. 

After rehearsal, I opened 

the backstage door, stepped 
knee-high into what I imagine 
Greenland feels like, and began 
the long walk home, warmed 
by the fact that I’d be seeing 
these idiots again on Thursday. 
The show starts at 8 p.m. See 
you there.

‘Gambler’ still leaves 
chips on the table

Bonnie 
and Clyde

Thursday, 
Friday and 
Saturday at 8 
p.m., Sunday 
at 2 p.m.

Lydia Mendelssohn 

Theatre

$13-25

By CONRAD FOREMAN

Daily Arts Writer

Expectations for “The Gam-

bler” may be 
for something 
along the lines 
of “21” — a fast-
paced 
thriller 

about 
genius 

gamblers that 
easily make for-
tunes in single 
nights. Instead, 
“The Gambler,” 
a remake of the 
1974 film of the same name, is a study 
of gambling addiction, personal ful-
fillment and self-destruction.

In addition to working as litera-

ture professor at a fictional univer-
sity, Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg, 
“The Departed”) leads a double-
life as a high-stakes gambler. Pos-
sessing an affluent background 
and 
high 
intellect, 
Bennett’s 

potential is obvious – except that 
he can’t walk away from the table 
when he’s up big. Despite many 
advantages and having a desirable 
career, Bennett feels inadequate as 
a writer, leads an apparently empty 
personal life and has a tumultu-
ous relationship with his mother. 
When these problems come to 
a head, Bennett finds himself in 

steep debt to three vicious loan 
sharks – with only seven days to 
pay off the balance.

Surprisingly, 
gambling 
itself 

takes somewhat of a backseat in 
the film’s plot. Bennett’s addiction 
catalyzes the entire story, but little 
screen-time is allotted for actual 
gambling. Unlike the 1974 version, 
the film includes a romance between 
Bennett and one of his students 
(Brie Larson, “21 Jump Street”), a 
prodigious writer whom he openly 
gushes over in front of a large lec-
ture hall. Needless to say, Bennett’s 
teaching methods are unorthodox if 
not downright inappropriate.

Bennett’s profession plays into 

the plot with another student of 
his, a university basketball star and 
non-stop in-class texter, whom 
Bennett approaches about fixing a 
game. The film minimally explores 
this topic, though it raises complex 
questions about the morality of 
cheating for the sake of one’s fam-
ily and the value of sportsmanship.

The film would benefit from 

greater depth to the nature of Ben-
nett’s relationships with his stu-
dents, especially his love interest 
and the basketball star. Apparently 
without any previous history, Ben-
nett feels comfortable approach-
ing both students in remarkably 
forward manners. While this can 

be chalked up to a character trait, 
more development and build-up 
to Bennett’s interactions with his 
students would add to the weight 
they carry.

The most entertaining character 

is Frank (John Goodman, “Flight”), 
one of the loan sharks. Bald and goa-
teed, Frank doesn’t simply resemble 
a fattened Heisenberg, but possess-
es the same crucial characteristic of 
a fierce underground businessman: 
a fuck-you attitude. Though he 
causes trouble for the protagonist, 
Frank also sees Bennett’s potential 
and pushes him to aspire for free-
dom — not only from his debts, but 
also from his own self-destructive 
tendencies.

Director Rupert Wyatt (“Rise of 

the Planet of the Apes”) and editor 
Pete Beaudreau (“All is Lost”) shine 
as bright spots for the film, from the 
opening car sequence to the quick, 
tense cuts during gambling scenes. 
The film also visually makes a nice 
point about students’ texting habits 
during class, with subtle inserts dur-
ing Bennett’s lectures.

“The Gambler” exudes creativ-

ity and sufficiently navigates deep 
themes without attempting to take 
on too much or make too grand of a 
statement. Though no aspects of the 
film are spectacular, every compo-
nent serves its purpose.

AARON WADE

#KillingIt.

Not another sequel!

DISNEY

#KillinItAgain.

By CONRAD FOREMAN

Daily Arts Writer

More is always better when it 

comes to pizza, but sadly that’s 
not the case for movies.

Hollywood loves to overdo 

it with sequels, prequels and 
spin-offs. For example, this year 
will mark the release of the sev-
enth installment in the “Fast 
and Furious” series. There are 
many reasons that studios love 
franchises, but the most obvious 
reason is that no one can really 
ever know whether an original, 
non-sequel movie will be suc-
cessful.

One genre where franchises 

are valued highly is the super-
hero movie. Unless a superhero 
movie really sucks (i.e. “Green 
Lantern” starring Ryan Reyn-
olds), a sequel will almost cer-
tainly be made. But recently, 
franchises have started encom-
passing a wider swath of the 
superhero genre. No longer is a 
hero limited to solely his or her 
own follow-up films: we have 
entered the age of the cinematic 
universe.

We’ll 
begin 
with 
Marvel 

Studios, pioneers of the con-
cept. Marvel’s ever-expanding 
universe was created with the 
2008 release of “Iron Man,” 
a surprisingly successful and 
acclaimed project. This Marvel 
film was the first to include a 
post-credits scene, and boy, was 
it prophetic. The short scene 
depicts Nick Fury speaking to 
Tony Stark. He says, “Mr. Stark, 
you’ve become a part of a bigger 
universe. You just don’t know it 
yet.” 

Sure enough, later in sum-

mer 2008, Tony Stark made a 
post-credits appearance in “The 
Incredible 
Hulk,” 
promising 

audiences that he was “putting 
a team together.” Then came 

“Iron Man 2,” “Captain Amer-
ica: The First Avenger” and 
“Thor,” which all converged in 
2012’s “The Avengers.” Except 
for “The Incredible Hulk,” each 
film has multiple sequels of its 
own, in addition to crossover 
appearances by many charac-
ters.

So far, the model has been 

overwhelmingly successful. The 
last two Marvel installments, 
“Guardians of the Galaxy” and 
“Captain America: The Winter 
Soldier,” were some of the most 
acclaimed of Marvel’s releases, 
and this summer’s “Avengers: 
Age of Ultron” is a safe bet to 
pull in a billion dollars, if not 
more.

Success means these expan-

sive superhero universes aren’t 
going away anytime soon. 20th 
Century Fox decided it wants a 
piece of the action, and is mov-
ing forward in a similar fashion 
with the two Marvel franchises 
to which it owns the rights: 
X-Men and the Fantastic Four. 
2014’s “X- Men: Days of Future 
Past” attempted to tie together 
the story lines of all six previ-
ous X-Men films, at least half 
of which were never meant to 
exist in an overarching uni-
verse, and indeed, this retroac-
tive merging created continuity 
issues. Beyond this, Fox has a 
reboot for “The Fantastic Four” 
set to hit theaters this August, 
and its sequel already has a 
release date, (set even before its 

predecessor even started shoot-
ing). 

DC Entertainment, in compe-

tition with Marvel, has begun 
constructing its own cinematic 
superhero universe, building on 
2013’s “Man of Steel” and the 
upcoming “Batman v. Super-
man: Dawn of Justice.” Char-
acters like The Flash, Wonder 
Woman and Aquaman will all 
get solo films, before ultimate-
ly coming together for a “Jus-
tice League” movie.

My point is that maybe these 

studios are biting off a bit more 
than they can chew. Marvel 
will release 11 more movies 
into its universe between now 
and 2019, including sequels 
for “Captain America,” “Thor” 
and “The Avengers,” as well as 
outside-the-box choices “Ant-
Man,” “Black Panther” and 
“Captain Marvel.” In addition, 
Marvel produces the television 
series “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” 
which also exists in Marvel’s 
movie universe. Only the die-
hardest of die-hard fans can 
keep up with every character 
and plot, and while that must 
certainly be rewarding for a 
select few, where does that 
leave casual fans?

The real question, though, is 

how does it end? What will hap-
pen when Robert Downey Jr. 
is too old to play Iron Man, or 
when Samuel L. Jackson is sick 
of playing Nick Fury? It seems 
likely that the films’ canon may 
soon become as convoluted as 
their source comics, meaning 
that finding a conclusion satis-
fying to fans, that also ties up 
loose ends, will be virtually 
impossible.

Are Marvel Studios and oth-

ers taking the trend of cinematic 
universes too far? I don’t know, 
but trying to keep up with these 
vast stories sure is exhausting.

“It’s a more 

intimate 

musical than 

people expect.”

Hollywood 

loves to overdo 
it with sequels.

WHAT’SNEW ON

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Gambler

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