Couple of contrasting scoundrels in frothy frolic of a show
Posted by Mark Smith on Wednesday, August 19, 2015
A few weeks ago I caught a repeat of the original 1980s movie version of
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the amusing tale of a couple of conmen and
their rich victims set in the French Riviera. The Michael Caine and Steve
Martin movie was turned into a musical by Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek – an
updated version recently played at the Savoy Theatre in the West End starring
Robert Lindsay and now director Jerry Mitchell's production is out on tour with
a new cast. The musical retains the charm of the original, while Lane's witty
book matched with Yazbek's catchy tunes add several more layers of comedy and
music to proceedings.
The contrast between the two lead conmen creates much of the comedy and dramatic interest in this show. Michael Praed's suave Lawrence Jameson has the pick of the crop of rich victims until Noel Sullivan's Freddy Benson impinges on his territory, and the two clash hilariously, ending up in competition with one another. Praed is perfect casting as the handsome, dapper, self-obsessed Lawrence, constantly checking his own beauty in the mirror, and is vocally much more comfortable with the material than he was when I last saw him on stage in High Society. Sullivan is equally strong as the earthy Freddy, much more rough around the edges than his older mentor, and the natural rock tinge to his voice suits numbers such as 'Great Big Stuff' well.
The plot of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is completely nonsensical – an extended sequence of one con with Freddy pretending to be wheelchair-bound while Lawrence's 'doctor' tortures him gives an idea of the sort of frothy humour throughout. Although the material is paper-thin, the show succeeds as it does what it sets out to do, not pretending to be anything else but fun entertainment.
The late first-half entrance of Carley Stenson as Christine Colgate, another potential victim, lifts the show up a notch. Having last seen Stenson’s assured performance as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, it was good to see her in another standout performance – and as another character with more going on under the surface than one would guess at first glance. Stenson is vocally very strong with perfect character acting – definitely a name to look out for in the future.
A subplot involves Mark Benton as a hapless 'cop' and stooge to Lawrence – Benton wringing every ounce of comedy out of every moment on stage – and his romance with Geraldine Fitzgerald's Muriel features a charming duet of mispronunciation 'Like Zis, Like Zat'. Fitzgerald gets a solo moment to shine in 'What Was A Woman To Do' too, while the hard-working ensemble play an entourage of characters from sailors to dancers and bellboys, and feature heavily in some well-drilled company numbers. The clever conmen here create their own worlds and characters to match people's fantasies in a 1950s setting where a sense of freedom is in the air. But who is the conman and who is being conned – you'll have to see this fun, frothy frolic to find out.
The contrast between the two lead conmen creates much of the comedy and dramatic interest in this show. Michael Praed's suave Lawrence Jameson has the pick of the crop of rich victims until Noel Sullivan's Freddy Benson impinges on his territory, and the two clash hilariously, ending up in competition with one another. Praed is perfect casting as the handsome, dapper, self-obsessed Lawrence, constantly checking his own beauty in the mirror, and is vocally much more comfortable with the material than he was when I last saw him on stage in High Society. Sullivan is equally strong as the earthy Freddy, much more rough around the edges than his older mentor, and the natural rock tinge to his voice suits numbers such as 'Great Big Stuff' well.
The plot of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is completely nonsensical – an extended sequence of one con with Freddy pretending to be wheelchair-bound while Lawrence's 'doctor' tortures him gives an idea of the sort of frothy humour throughout. Although the material is paper-thin, the show succeeds as it does what it sets out to do, not pretending to be anything else but fun entertainment.
The late first-half entrance of Carley Stenson as Christine Colgate, another potential victim, lifts the show up a notch. Having last seen Stenson’s assured performance as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, it was good to see her in another standout performance – and as another character with more going on under the surface than one would guess at first glance. Stenson is vocally very strong with perfect character acting – definitely a name to look out for in the future.
A subplot involves Mark Benton as a hapless 'cop' and stooge to Lawrence – Benton wringing every ounce of comedy out of every moment on stage – and his romance with Geraldine Fitzgerald's Muriel features a charming duet of mispronunciation 'Like Zis, Like Zat'. Fitzgerald gets a solo moment to shine in 'What Was A Woman To Do' too, while the hard-working ensemble play an entourage of characters from sailors to dancers and bellboys, and feature heavily in some well-drilled company numbers. The clever conmen here create their own worlds and characters to match people's fantasies in a 1950s setting where a sense of freedom is in the air. But who is the conman and who is being conned – you'll have to see this fun, frothy frolic to find out.
