This afternoon I saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a new musical in a pre-Broadway run in San Diego, and I predict it will do very well indeed when it arrives on the Great White Way.
Lyrics and music are by David Yazbek (of The Full Monty fame), with a book by Jeffrey Lane, who's done a good deal of work in the world of television. Direction is by Jack O'Brian (Hairspray) and scenic design by David Rockwell (Hairspray.) Gregg Barnes did the costume design and Jerry Mitchell (The Full Monty and Hairspray) handled choreography. Ted Sperling (The Full Monty) is music director and Harold Wheeler (The Full Monty) did the orchestrations. Does any Dear Reader detect any patterns in the artistic team's resumes?
Based on the movie of the same name, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels takes place in a beachside resort in the south of France. Lawrence Jameson (John Lithgow) has made a very successful career of swindling wealthy women of their jewels and cash. He takes on an apprentice in Freddy Benson (Norbert Leo Butz.) They soon arrive at a realization that the spa is only big enough for one of them, and they agree to a bet that the first to swindle $50,000 from Christine Colgate, aka "The Queen of Soap" (Sherie Rene Scott) will win the territory and the other will have to leave. Joanne Gleason plays Muriel Eubanks, a ditzy vacationer at the resort, and Gregory Jbara plays Jameson's faithful assistant and confidant and, it should be noted, the town's chief of police.
The show is a great deal of fun from beginning to end. The book unfolds with rapid pace and the music is quite accessible and catchy. Mr. Yazbek has chosen to create many of the numbers in parodic form of familiar song genres. So we have a Viennese waltz song, a wild country & western kick-dancing song, a delicious take on a Noel Coward ditty, a sort of trucker's ballad, a rap song, etc., etc., etc. Much of the wordplay is quite clever, and some of the rhyming is outrageously twisted to good comedic effect.
There is a good deal of groan-worthy corn in the book, which the audience lapped up, myself included. One example:
Joanna Gleason: Hi! I'm Muriel of Omaha.
Gregory Jbara: Nice to meet you.
Joanna Gleason: It's mutual.
Mr. Lithgow plays Jameson as the quintessence of suave, and he maintains wonderful balance in the comic antics of the part. He has a bona fide 11 o'clock ballad and handles it with aplomb. From his initial appearance on, Mr. Butz proves himself an able rubber-bodied comedian. He has been allowed, however, to take his schtick way too far over the top and his mugging to the audience is more than a bit precious. Miss Scott, relative to the two male leads, does not have a great deal to do, though she's excellent in what has been apportioned to her. Miss Gleason has been provided some of the best lines in the show and demonstrates how less can be a great deal more when it comes to comedy. Her scenes with Mr. Jbara are particularly memorable. The singing in the show--by the principals and ensemble--is just fine.
The use of a turntable and set elements gliding smoothly from the wings and the flies create very successful montage effects through the course of the show. Though the elements themselves may be spare, they are evocative. The ladies' costumes are lavish. The overall visual aspects of the show work together very nicely.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is not without its flaws. The comedy would benefit from a good deal more restraint and greater faith in subtlety than is currently present. The 1st act curtain is misplaced, in my humble opinion. There are numerous topical references--including one involving George W. Bush--that will likely date the show in a hurry. Most egregious of all is an overt self-consiousness that pops up here and there throughout the show. For example, as Joanna Gleason checks back into the resort at about 80 minutes into the show, she says something along the lines of "I'm sure I can be of help to someone in the second act." It gets a laugh, but this device, borrowed (stolen?) from The Producers (where I didn't care for it either), takes audience members out of the story and reminds them that they are watching a theatrical event, a big no-no in my book.
The aforementioned notwithstanding, and despite its lack of special effects or falling chandeliers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has just the right formula in terms of music, book, visuals and, certainly not least, star power and talent in its cast to be the next Broadway musical blockbuster.
