THOSE of us of “a certain age” who remember Arthur Penn’s iconic 1967 film of Bonnie and Clyde, starring a never-better Warren Beatty and a brilliant Faye Dunaway, are bound to look forward to the award-winning musical version – coming to Bath Theatre Royal from 30th April to 4th May – with a mixture of curiosity and some nervousness. That film set fashion trends (the maxi-skirt, so much more flattering for most of us than the mini-skirt) and made overnight stars not only of its leads but of Gene Hackman and Michael J Pollard and a hit of Flatt and Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

Can the musical match up to memories of this classic film? Certainly it has been a big hit in the West End and expectations are high as it comes to Bath, with a cast led by Alex James-Hatton (Newsies, Heathers) as Clyde Barrow, Katie Tonkinson (Bat Out of Hell) as Bonnie Parker, Catherine Tyldesley (Coronation Street, Strictly Come Dancing) as Blanche Barrow and Sam Ferriday (The Cher Show, Rock of Ages) as Marvin “Buck” Barrow,

Winner of Best New Musical at the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards, the first UK and Ireland tour of Bonnie & Clyde The Musical follows hot on the heels of two hell-raising hit seasons in London’s West End at the Arts Theatre and the Garrick Theatre. The musical tells the story of two small-town kids from the middle of nowhere who became the biggest folk heroes in all America in a short but dramatic journey of love, adventure and crime.

AJ Lewis, whose credits include Mandela and Mrs Doubtfire, appears as The Preacher and Daniel Reid-Walters (Girl from the North Country and The Railway Children), plays Ted Hinton. Other parts are played by Taryn Sudding, Alexander Evans, Andrew Berlin, James Mateo-Salt as Sheriff Schmid and Ensemble, Callum Henderson as Bud, Archie and Ensemble, Jasmine Beel, Oonagh Cox, Michael Cortez and Olivia Lallo.

The production features music by multi-Grammy, Tony and Emmy Award nominee Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Tony and Oscar winner Don Black and book by Emmy Award nominee Ivan Menchell. Bonnie & Clyde The Musical is directed and choreographed by Nick Winston with set and costume design by Philip Witcomb, musical supervision by Katy Richardson, associate musical supervision from Nick Barstow, original arrangements and orchestrationsby John McDaniel with additional arrangements by Jen Green.

Photographs by Richard Davenport