Latest production offers a musical take on a 1920s true crime

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Cassandra Kurek as Bonnie Parker and Brian Timpe in the role of Clyde Barrow get ready to head out on a crime spree after Bonnie helped Clyde escape from prison, singing “This World Will Remember Us” as they go. (EXAMINER PHOTO | SHARYN KOPF)

It’s certainly an unusual theme for a musical. Yet the lives of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow — which ended so violently almost 90 years ago — make for a compelling if terrible and tragic story.
And the Holland Theatre will share that story when it presents the musical Bonnie & Clyde this weekend.
“The subject matter is somewhat controversial, but I don’t think it glorifies Bonnie and Clyde as much as it humanizes them,” Mark Amidon, director, said. “You do bad things, you pay the price.”
Those “bad things” refer to a crime spree that lasted 21 months, from 1932 to 1934. The couple and their associates, which included Clyde’s brother, Buck, and Buck’s wife, Blanche, robbed gas stations, restaurants and small-town banks. They also murdered as many as 13 people, mostly law enforcement officers.
The musical, which is set during the Great Depression, starts with how the couple met, shows the rapid growth of their relationship then, in act II, delves into that two-year crime spree.
Bringing such a story to the stage takes hard work and a talented cast, which the Holland has in spades. Playing the leads are Bellefontaine Elementary School music teacher Brian Timpe as Clyde, and Cassandra Kurek, who will be a senior at Wynford High School in Bucyrus this fall, took on the role of Bonnie.
“This is my favorite musical of all time,” Kurek said. When she saw the Holland had chosen it as their next production, she couldn’t resist. “I had to audition.”
In addition to her lead acting role, Kurek also was crowned the Miss Ohio’s Teen 2022, and provided a farewell performance on the stage last week at Miss Ohio’s Teen 2023 the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield.
Another first is Amidon’s turn in the director’s chair. Though the son of long-time area director Forrest “Woody” Amidon, Mark didn’t embrace the theatre world until his 50s, when his dad needed him to fill a role. That was just the beginning … and led eventually to directing Bonnie & Clyde.
Show times are Friday and Saturday, June 23 and 24, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, June 25, at 2 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online at thehollandtheatre.org or visit the box office at 127 E. Columbus Ave., Bellefontaine, between 1 and 5 p.m. Thursday or Friday.
Clyde Barrow (Brian Timpe) sings “Raise a Little Hell” while hoping for a chance to escape prison during Bonnie & Clyde, a musical production presented by the Holland Theatre this Friday and Saturday night plus a matinee on Sunday. (EXAMINER PHOTO | SHARYN KOPF)
Emma Parker, played by Kris Shannon, left, tries to convince her daughter, Bonnie (Cassandra Kurek), to move on from her relationship with prisoner Clyde Barrow. Bonnie responds by singing “You Love Who You Love.” The song is a duet with Blanche, played by Amanda Stephen, the wife of Clyde’s brother, Buck (Brice Henry), another frequent prisoner at the county jail. (EXAMINER PHOTO | SHARYN KOPF)