Laura Osnes and Stark Sands to Star in Bonnie & Clyde at La Jolla

Laura Osnes and Stark Sands have been tapped to star in the new Frank Wildhorn and Don Black musical Bonnie & Clyde. The world premiere production will debut November 10, 2009 at La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandel Weiss Theatre in California, playing through December 20. Jeff Calhoun directs.

Bonnie & Clyde will also feature Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Mare Winningham (Georgia, Amber Waves) as Bonnie’s mother, Melissa van der Schyff (Big River, Pippin) as Clyde’s sister-in-law and Chris Peluso (Mamma Mia!) as Deputy Ted Hinton.

Based loosely on the real-life story of Depression-era criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the musical follows the couple as their love affair spirals out of control during a series of bank robberies. As the duo’s notoriety rises, the ill-fated lovers find themselves racing to the top of the public enemies list.

Osnes can currently be seen as cock-eyed optimist Nellie Forbush in the Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center revival of South Pacific. The winner of hit reality TV show Grease: You’re the One That I Want, she starred on Broadway as Sandy in the 2007 revival of Grease.

Sands most recently appeared on the New York stage in the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night as Anne Hathaway's twin brother. The actor received a 2007 Tony Award nomination for his performance on Broadway in Journey’s End and was featured off-Broadway last season in The Tempest. On the small screen, Sands was featured in the HBO series Six Feet Under and Generation Kill, and has been seen in the films Shall We Dance, Flags of Our Fathers and Day of the Dead.

Casting and creative team details for Bonnie & Clyde will be officially announced shortly.