Bonnie & Clyde holds a dear place in my heart, as it was a show I saw during my time at university that featured a lot of good friends. It has such heart-wrenching songs that endears you to the timeless duo and makes you root for them, even though we know the end of their story. Lost Baggage Musical Theatre has been upping their games with their past shows and I’ve been quite delighted with the past One Small Misstep, Rocky Horror, and Ride the Cyclone. 

Overall, I think this was a great show in many artistic aspects; however, I think that’s also where the show failed in some ways. For instance, the setup for the audience and the stage was something like a runway with audience members on either side of a lane of action. On either end you had two competing worlds: the struggling era of the 30s and the transformative, affluent era of the 40s. This dichotomy on stage was a great visual idea that did not end up working for me, as most of the time the actors would find themselves “performing” on a bandstand and it felt more like watching a cabaret performance rather than a show. 

When this show was announced, they also announced a part of the artistic vision was that the story would not just be told through words and music, but also by a powerful, all-female modern dance ensemble. This piqued my interest as I couldn’t really imagine how a modern dance ensemble would fit into the established world. At the beginning of the show, I saw the potential it had during “How ‘Bout A Dance?” as it drove this dream sequence-esque where Bonnie (Tatum Tatarciuc) took center spotlight at the standing mics and the dance ensemble added a lot of emotion to the scene. The dancers themselves are absolutely fantastic: the skill and the artistry from them were beautiful – from the soft, slow lines of body to the flowing and passionate movement. 

That being said, my previous worries were confirmed throughout the show thereafter. In songs like “When I Drive”, “You Love Who You Love”, and “Dyin’ Ain’t So Bad” I found that the dance ensemble was more of a distraction and a hindrance to the development of the characters. A lot of these moments had the intention of building character through some empathy building character moments that were interrupted by the movement. Bonnie’s ballad is a moment where she comes to terms with her lot in life and that the world she was in felt like a prison. It’s a powerful moment with powerful vocals that Tatarciuc does an incredible performance of; however, the moment felt drained of that passion with the inclusion of the dance ensemble. This is done over and over again with almost all of the songs in the show to the point where it felt more like watching Dancing with the Stars.

I think Mike Sheppard made some strong artistic choices, but the choices did not blend well together. Instead of creating what could’ve been a melting pot of artistic vision, it ended up being this heterogeneous concoction of modern-contemporary dance set in the Copacabana during the Great Depression: it just felt anachronistically wrong and created a huge disconnect with the text. Do all of these ideas work individually? I think they would and I also think that there is a world where they would work together, but the execution left a lot to be desired. 

Now, the best reasons to see the show though? The cast. Jarrett Stoll, Tatum Tatarciuc, Joy Mwandemange, and Salem Valentine take my huge shoutouts in their performance. Stoll and Tatarciuc had such great onstage chemistry that shined throughout their performance and truly romanticized this villainous couple, and with powerhouse vocals to boot. Mwandemange absolutely blew me away with their performance as Blanche. “That’s What You Call a Dream” and the character Blanche to me always felt like just that other side-character; however, with Mwademange’s performance she truly took her moment in the world where her idealistic virtues conflicted with her heart. 

This being the 3rd show in LBMT’s season, it shows great promise from the company as it’s a great example of how they’re growing. I find that they are slowly, but consistently increasing the quality of their shows in many different ways. I hope that this trend continues as they fill an important role within the community.