MLT performs musical version of 'Bonnie & Clyde'

May 13—Tulsa actress Clare Holt said she knew what she wanted to be after seeing the musical production "Bonnie & Clyde."

"After watching it for the first time, I was like, 'oh my gosh, I want to be Bonnie so bad,'" she said. "It's such a good role, especially with her character arc being meek and mousy to being this gangster sort of lady."

Holt gets to play the gun-toting Depression era gangster in the Muskogee Little Theatre production of "Bonnie & Clyde," which opens Friday. Seth Arnold plays Clyde Barrow.

Director Tommy Cummings called "Bonnie & Clyde" a unique musical. Don't expect dance numbers.

"It's kind of different from the ones we've seen, especially when you have people like Bonnie and Clyde be the main people in the show," Cummings said. "It's a story of the violent acts that are driven by poverty and desperation, as they spend their lives robbing grocery stores and banks. They drag along Clyde's brother and his wife, Blanche."

However, the musical's main theme focuses on the love story between Bonnie and Clyde.

"The most challenging aspect of it has been creating sympathy for individuals like Bonnie and Clyde who have a criminal mindset," he said. "Even though you're not trying to shy away from the heinous acts and want to focus on the love affair, it's still at the forefront. It's about creating conflict for everyone and not making it just about roses and everything."

For example, Cummings said that, with the police, "it's like they're always out to get them. There's this mindset that they're always out to get Clyde."

Cummings said Clyde "feels like nobody's going to hear his voice anyway."

Holt said she researched Bonnie Parker by reading the woman's poetry, as well as books about her.

"I also looked up her life and did a study about the Great Depression and what it was like living in Texas at that time," she said. "She seemed to have a really big heart. Her mother talked about Bonnie, when she worked at the diner, got in trouble for feeding people who couldn't pay."

Holt said she put herself in Bonnie's shoes during a desperate time.

"Any human being under any situation could turn to do things like Bonnie and Clyde did, especially during such a hard time," she said. "Looking at the desperation she felt after losing her first husband, who basically walked out on her, and how that would drive her to want to hold on to Clyde even more."

The play's music also was an attraction, Holt said.

"The music that Bonnie sings is good for a mezzo-soprano," Holt said. "I've always heard of the music and sang some of the music for my auditions."

Cummings said the intimate musical features 1920s style jazz, gospel, rockabilly and blues.

The musicians have been moved from the pit to above the stage.

"Along with trying to bring live theater back into Muskogee, we haven't had a band in a long time, so we wanted to make sure that band was almost forefront and center," Cummings said. "That adds kind of a cool dynamic."

Restrictions to help prevent spread of COVID-19 remain in place. Masks will be required inside the theater, and groups in the audience will be socially distanced.