Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (musical)

''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' is a 2004 comedy musical, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek and a book by Jeffrey Lane; it is based on the 1988 film of the same name. The musical premiered on Broadway in 2005 and ran for 626 performances despite mixed reviews. It has since received tours and international productions. The Australian production opened in 2013 to rave reviews and was called the "best musical to hit Sydney this century" by the ''Sydney Morning Herald''. A West End production opened in 2014 to generally warm reviews.

Productions

Original production

The musical premiered at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California on September 22, 2004, before moving to Broadway in January 2005 and officially opening in March at the Imperial Theatre. The show closed on Broadway on September 3, 2006 after a total of 626 performances. The director was Jack O'Brien, choreographer was Jerry Mitchell, with scenic design by David Rockwell, costume design by Gregg Barnes, and lighting design by Kenneth Posner. The cast included John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, and Sherie Rene Scott, with Joanna Gleason, Gregory Jbara, and Sara Gettelfinger."''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' Ends Its Broadway Streak Sept. 3; Tour Is Hot"
, ''Playbill''. September 3, 2006. The production was nominated for ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score, but it won only one, for Leading Actor in a Musical (Butz).

National tours and international productions

A North American national Equity tour launched on August 4, 2006 with Norbert Leo Butz reprising his role as Freddy, alongside Tom Hewitt as Lawrence. The tour ended on August 19, 2007. A 25-city non-Equity tour, with Jamie Jackson as Lawrence and Doug Thompson as Freddy, began on September 25, 2007 in Dayton, Ohio, with its final performance on March 23, 2008, in Memphis, Tennessee.

International productions have been staged in Tokyo, Mexico City, Stuttgart, Seoul, Oslo, Stockholm, Tampere and Plzeň. ''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' opened in Sydney, Australia, October 24, 2013 featuring Tony Sheldon, John Wood, Matt Hetherington, Amy Lehpamer, Anne Wood and Katrina Retallick.

West End (2014)

The original UK production had pre- West End tryouts at the Manchester Opera House and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre beginning in November 2013 before beginning previews at the Savoy Theatre, London, on March 10, 2014, with the official opening night on April 2, 2014. The production was directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, with design by Peter McKintosh, in what was described as a "reconceived and re-imagined" production. The original cast included Robert Lindsay as Lawrence, Rufus Hound as Freddy, Katherine Kingsley as Christine and Samantha Bond as Muriel. The production closed on March 7, 2015.

UK Tour (2015)

The UK tour starred Michael Praed as Lawrence, Noel Sullivan as Freddy, Carley Stenson as Christine, and Geraldine Fitzgerald as Muriel. Mark Benton began the tour in May 2015 as Andre, with Gary Wilmot taking over the role in September 2015. The tour opened in Birmingham at the New Alexandra Theater on May 5, 2015. The cast also featured Emma Caffrey, Andy Conaghan, Phoebe Coupe, Soophia Faroughi, Jonny Godbold, Orla Gormley, Patrick Harper, Justin Lee-Jones, Jordan Livesey, Lisa Mathieson, Andy Rees, Freya Rowley, Regan Shepherd, Kevin Stephen-Jones, Katie Warsop and Jenny Wickham.

Plot

Act 1

Inside a lively casino near the French Riviera ("Overture"), con-artist Lawrence Jameson is tricking wealthy women out of their money with the help of his "bodyguard" Andre ("Give Them What They Want"). Muriel Eubanks and a few other women express their devotion and amorous feelings for Lawrence, who has conned them ("What Was a Woman To Do"). Andre warns Lawrence about a highly successful con-artist known as "The Jackal", who is said to be visiting the area. Later, aboard a train, Lawrence watches an American named Freddy Benson (who he figures is The Jackal) swindle a woman, but notes that Freddy makes much less money than Lawrence does. Lawrence brings Freddy to his lavish mansion, where Freddy envies Lawrence's success as a swindler and describes everything he'll have when he's rich ("Great Big Stuff"). Freddy asks Lawrence to show him his ways. Andre thinks Freddy is unworthy of Lawrence's attention and compares Freddy to a chimp in a suit ("Chimp in a Suit"). Lawrence considers Freddy's request until Jolene Oakes, a woman he's conned, informs him at gunpoint that he's going to marry her and move with her to Oklahoma ("Oklahoma?"). Then Lawrence decides to use Freddy's help. Freddy poses as Lawrence's repulsive brother Ruprecht ("All About Ruprecht"). Seeing that Lawrence plans to make Ruprecht a large part of their life together, Jolene calls off the wedding.

Lawrence begins to think that there isn't enough room in town for both him and Freddy after the pair argue. They make a deal: the first to swindle a woman out of $50,000 gets to stay in town, while the other has to leave. Immediately after they agree on this, the arrival of "The American Soap Queen" is announced. Her name is Christine Colgate, and she is optimistic, naive and hopelessly clumsy, constantly bumping into people ("Here I Am"). Both con men decide to target her. Freddy presents himself as a man paralyzed from the waist down. Christine and Freddy discuss his medical options and he explains that only one therapist, Dr. Shuffhausen, can help him, but he can't afford Dr. Shuffhausen's $50,000 fee. Christine tells him to keep his hopes up ("Nothing Is Too Wonderful To Be True") and offers to pay for the therapy just as Freddy had hoped ("The Miracle"). Then she reveals that Dr. Shuffhausen is at the hotel and Freddy is shocked to discover that Lawrence is Shuffhausen.

Act 2

After a quick introduction ("Entr'acte"), Lawrence as Shuffhausen performs several torturous tests on Freddy ("Ruffhousin' Mit Shuffhausen"), who has to endure them without complaint. In the side show Muriel meets Andre and the two fall in love ("Like Zis/Like Zat"). Lawrence makes every effort to get close to Christine ("The More We Dance"). When he realizes that Christine is not as rich as they thought. Lawrence tells Freddy that they should call off their $50,000 contest. Freddy reluctantly agrees and they agree on new terms: whoever beds Christine gets to stay. Freddy sleeps with her, then hires two sailors to kidnap Lawrence so that he can have Christine to himself.

Freddy meets with Christine at the hotel where he tells her he needs motivation to get out of his chair. She says she'll be his motivation ("Love is My Legs"). She sits on the bed till he is finally able to stand up out of his chair and walk to her on the bed (where he "accidentally" falls on top of her in exhaustion). Lawrence then shows up and it turns out to be a test planned by him and Christine. Lawrence has the same two sailors kidnap Freddy while he takes Christine to the train station so she can leave ("Love Sneaks In"). Freddy shows up, having escaped the sailors too late to get to Christine.

The next day Freddy meets Christine back at the hotel who says she couldn't leave “without seeing you again.” ("Son of Great Big Stuff") The two get in bed together before the scene is switched to Lawrence's mansion where Christine arrives, telling him tearfully how she came back to see Freddy, how they made love, and then when she woke up all her money was gone: “I’m beginning to think he was never really paralyzed.” Out of remorse, Lawrence packs 50 thousand dollars in a suitcase and tells her to take it. Christine takes it, but returns and gives him back the suitcase saying, "I’ll have something so much better to remember you by" before leaving.

A few minutes later Freddy shows up in his underwear. Lawrence is angry at him for taking Christine's money. Freddy, however, claims that they never made love at all; they were about to when she knocked him out. When he woke up all his belongings were gone. Lawrence then opens up the suitcase to find the money gone, replaced by Freddy's clothes and a note that reads, “Goodbye boys. It was fun! Love, 'The Jackal'”, thus revealing that she knew about their scam the entire time, and instead ended up scamming them ("The Reckoning"). A while later Christine returns to Lawrence's chateau, bringing a group of other people with her. The guys admit the scam was a good adventure ("Dirty Rotten Number") and they hatch a scheme to scam the crowd of people ''together'' in the "Finale".

Musical numbers

The musical numbers in the original Broadway production were:

;Act I
* "Overture"
* "Give Them What They Want" - Lawrence, Andre, Ensemble
* "What Was a Woman to Do" - Muriel, Women
* "Great Big Stuff" - Freddy, Ensemble
* "Chimp in a Suit" - Andre
* "Oklahoma?" - Jolene, Lawrence, Ensemble
* "All About Ruprecht" - Lawrence, Freddy, Jolene
* "What Was a Woman to Do (Reprise)" - Muriel
* "Here I Am" - Christine, Ensemble
* "Nothing is Too Wonderful to Be True" - Christine, Freddy
* "The Miracle (Act I Finale)" - Company

;Act II
* "Entr'acte"
* "Ruffhousin' Mit Shüffhausen" - Lawrence, Freddy, Christine
* "Like Zis/Like Zat" - Andre, Muriel
* "The More We Dance" - Lawrence, Christine, Ensemble
* "Love is My Legs" - Freddy, Christine, Ensemble
* "Love Sneaks In" - Lawrence
* "Like Zis/Like Zat (Reprise)" - Muriel
* "Son of Great Big Stuff" - Freddy, Christine
* "The Reckoning" - Lawrence, Freddy, Andre (with spoken line by Christine)
* "Dirty Rotten Number" - Lawrence, Freddy
* "Finale" - Company

Revisions

* For the first US tour, the number "Give Them What They Want" was replaced with (according to Yazbek) a more suitable opening number, "The Only Game in Town".
*The West End production restored "Give Them What They Want", although it set the song in Laurence's dressing room and changed several lines. "Chimp in a Suit" was cut along with Freddie's verse of "Nothing is too Wonderful to be True". The book and lyrics were also tweaked to Anglicise both some of the characters and references.

Recording

The '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Original Broadway Cast Recording'' CD was recorded on March 14, 2005 at Right Track Studio in New York City and was released on May 10, 2005 by Ghostlight Records (an imprint of Sh-K-Boom Records). It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

Characters and cast

;Notable Broadway replacements
*Jonathan Pryce replaced John Lithgow as Lawrence Jameson on January 17, 2006.
*Rachel York filled in as Christine Colgate from February 7, 2006, to June 20, 2006.
*Rachel deBenedet filled in as Muriel Eubanks from May 2, 2006, to May 21, 2006.
*Lucie Arnaz replaced Joanna Gleason as Muriel Eubanks on May 23, 2006.
*Keith Carradine replaced Jonathan Pryce as Lawrence Jameson on July 21, 2006.
* Brian d'Arcy James replaced Norbert Leo Butz as Freddy Benson on July 21, 2006.
*Richard Kind replaced Gregory Jbara as Andre on August 4, 2006.

;Notable West End replacements
*Bonnie Langford replaced Samantha Bond as Muriel Eubanks on September 16, 2014.
*Gary Wilmot replaced John Marquez as Andre on September 16, 2014.
*Alex Gaumond replaced Rufus Hound as Freddy Benson on November 11, 2014.

Critical reception

The Broadway reviews were mixed. Ben Brantley of ''The New York Times'' compared the musical with the 2001 hit musical '' The Producers'', also an adaptation of a film about two con men, and found it lacking in confidence and energy. He praised Butz but felt that the musical's "ingredients appear to have been assembled according to an oft-checked shopping list for a borrowed recipe. There is equally little evidence of ... chemistry between its two perpetrators." John Simon at the ''New York Magazine'' review mostly liked the book and lyrics, as well as the direction and cast, but found the music merely serviceable. He termed the show "a bit vulgar, a bit hokey, a bit for the tired businessman, but often funny, not infrequently clever, with a nice sprinkling of the outrageous".

The West End reviews were generally favorable. The ''Sunday Times'' critic called it "a scandalous delight". ''The Times'' found it merely "likeable", giving it three stars out of five and reserving most of its praise for Kingsley. ''The Telegraph'' gave it four stars, finding it more fun than the film and praising the book, cast and direction. ''The Independent'' also judged it worth three stars but liked the score, which it found witty, more than the book, which it thought was lacking in depth, comparing it unfavorably with ''The Producers''. Michael Billington at ''The Guardian'' awarded four stars. He enjoyed the show's nostalgic fun and "escapist fantasy". The ''London Evening Standard'' also awarded four stars, also highlighting Kingsley's contribution and concluding: "There’s plenty of razzle-dazzle yet also a wry knowingness." The ''Financial Times'' was more critical, giving the show only two stars and lamenting that the songs failed to carry the story and characters forward. It found the show silly, but not "in a good way ... tdeterminedly eradicated every atom other than the feel good. Any instance of underplaying may conceivably result in docked wages. Basic theatrical continuity goes out the window, as characters sing in verbal idioms and even in accents entirely alien to their spoken lines".

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Original London production

References

External links

Official London Production Website

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Production: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Musical)
2004 musicals
Musicals based on films
Broadway musicals
West End musicals
Tony Award-winning musicals
Musicals written by David Yazbek