Hustle and Show

[The national tour of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels played the Fox Theatre in St. Louis March 27th through April 8th, 2007. This is text of my review of the show for KDHX-FM.]

As the popularity of the recent BBC TV series Hustle clearly demonstrates, just about everybody loves a good con story as long as no one gets seriously hurt and the plot twists play fair with the audience. So the musical stage version of the 1988 comedy caper film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has a lot of good will going for it from the start. The fact that it retains that good will right to the end despite some missteps along the way demonstrates, once again, the timeless truth of the old theatrical axiom “always leave 'em laughing”.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Michael Caine-Steve Martin film (or the Marlon Brando-David Niven vehicle Bedtime Story on which it was based), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is the tale of suave middle-aged con artist Lawrence Jameson, who makes his living bilking rich matrons on the Riviera, and his rivalry with Freddy Benson, a young, vulgar short-con man who ropes the unwilling Jameson into acting as his mentor. Quickly tiring of each other, they agree on showdown: they'll both try to dupe heiress Christine Colgate into parting with fifty grand. The loser has to leave the Riviera.

The resulting battle of wits generates the bulk of the show's humor and nearly all of its plot twists. Alas, it doesn't really get going until around an hour into the first act, by which time Dirty Rotten Scoundrels comes perilously close to wearing out its welcome.

Why? Well, there are, to begin with, too many songs that simply fill time without advancing the plot or illuminating character - including one number, “Oklahoma?”, that looks like an outtake from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (although it does get points for rhyming “Oklahoma” with “melanoma”). There's also too much of what struck me as overly broad (not to say crass) humor. And I'm someone who actually thinks The Three Stooges and Weird Al are funny.

As a result, by the time intermission came around, I was beginning to wonder if something more substantial than the cheap red wine available in the lobby might be called for.

Happily, Scoundrels redeems itself with a solid second act. The comic reverses, as Lawrence and Freddy try to cut each other out, are fast and furious, and while the ending might not be that surprising to fans of caper films, it's still dramatically and musically satisfying.

Composer and lyricist David Yazbeck, who earned Grammy and Tony awards for another film adaptation, The Full Monty, back in 2000, is at the top of his form here as well. His music is bright and appealing, with witty lyrics that are, unfortunately, sometimes incomprehensible due to the muddy amplified sound. Television veteran Jeffrey Lane wrote the book, which provides the required plot twists and is, despite an excessive reliance on cheap sight gags, generally quite funny - often hilarious, in fact, especially when it breaks down the “fourth wall” makes fun of theatrical conventions.

He and Yazbeck also have two of the most amusing program bios I've seen in some time. I wonder how many audience members have actually read them?

But I digress.

Tom Hewitt is delightfully debonair as Jameson, “oozing charm from every pore” like Zoltan Karpathy, but with considerably more class. D.B. Bonds is thoroughly believable as Benson, Jameson's crude, out-of-control opposite. The role calls for a strong physical comic and dancer, and Bonds fills the bill admirably.

Laura Marie Duncan is a terrific Christine Colgate, “The Soap Queen”, perfectly capturing all of the character's varied moods. Hollis Resnik brings an endearing wry charm (a la the great Elaine Stritch) to the role of Muriel Eubanks, an early convert to Jameson's “exiled prince” scam. Nicely matching her is Drew McVety as Jameson's accomplice Andre Thibault. The slowly enfolding romance between the two provides lovely moments of more low-key comedy to balance the maniacal hijinks generated by the Jameson-Benson rivalry.

Paige Pardy also deserves an honorable mention for her deliriously over the top cameo as Jolene, the Oklahoma oil heiress. It's a physically demanding bit and while I didn't find it all that funny, I recognize that my gripe is with the material itself rather than her admirable performance of it. Your mileage may vary.

Gregg Barnes' costumes and David Rockwell's fluid sets are a riot of tropical color and choreographer Jerry Mitchell, whose award-winning work includes La Cage aux Folles, Hairspray and The Full Monty, demonstrates his versatility again with variations on everything from the tango to a two-step. Indeed, the entire production looks and sounds appropriately bright and brassy. Superficial it may be, but then you don't go to a show like this expecting King Lear, after all.

The bottom line on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is that it's a real treat for lovers of caper films and musical theatre who also have a high tolerance for the well-turned Cheap Laugh. And even those who are more attuned to (say) Bob and Ray than Moe, Larry and Curly will probably find much to admire, even if most of it won't show up until after intermission.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels ran through April 8th [2007] at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. You find out when the show will be in your area at the official tour web site, dirtyrottentour.com.