Bonnie and Clyde Recap
Written by Kaylee Sugimoto on November 16, 2022
Photo provided by Illinois State University
NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State University’s production of “Bonnie and Clyde” kept its audience on their toes and coming back for more.
The musical took place from Nov. 3 to Nov. 6 for a total of five showings. It featured show tunes and acts from the original musical written by Frank Wildhorn.
Bebe Marzano is a junior theater education and musical theater major. She played the role of Blanch Barrow, Clyde’s sister-in-law who was roped into being involved with the gang.
Marzano said that the musical went well as a whole.
“It went better than any of us could have expected,” Marzano said. “We all knew that we had a very good show, but we weren’t sure how the audiences were going to take it.”
Marzano said that audience members ended up coming back multiple times for the show.
“Some people I know that are very picky with our shows have been voicing their love for it,” Marzano said. “That makes me very happy.”
On a more personal level, Marzano said that she is proud of how she performed and felt like it was a rewarding experience.
“This is the biggest role that I have ever had,” Marzano said. “It was the first time I had my own bow. That was really cool, having the audience just clapping for me in that very moment.”
However, that reward did not come without hard work. Marzano said that she did a lot of research behind the character to fully get into the role of Blanche Barrow.
“Blanche wrote a book while she was in jail after she got arrested, where she wrote about the whole journey of being in the gang and what it was like to be living on the road for so long,” Marzano said. “We weren’t trying to be super historically accurate in our production, because it’s our production and we can do whatever we want with it. But, it was also really cool to get to know her as a person through that and I think that it helped a lot.”
Marzano also said that becoming Blanche Barrow has made her optimistic about her future career in acting.
“This is definitely the most emotionally taxing role I’ve ever done, so it’s definitely really cool to see myself doing something like that,” Marzano said. “It definitely makes me think more of my future as well.”
