Jonathan Pryce: Dirtier, Rottener, Scoundrelier

I imagine casting the lead role of Lawrence Jameson in David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a bit like casting the role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret. There's the question of how good the actor should be. The best Sally Bowles I've ever seen was an actress who, in my humble opinion, has left much to be desired in every other stage role I've seen her in. But in Cabaret her inability to play the role was an asset. So inept was she in making her Sally a fabulous English, sexually indulgent free-spirit, she gave the impression that her character was actually an awkward, inexperienced American trying to change her life by reinventing herself into an unattainable ideal. If she were better in the role it wouldn't have been nearly as effective.

John Lithgow, of course, is the fine and versatile stage actor who won a Tony Award exactly 23 days after his first appearance on a Broadway stage. And though his work originating Jameson was obviously far from inept, the fact that he may not have been totally believable as an irresistible ladies man on the French Riviera who regularly had checks made out to "cash" handed to him by dazzled women convinced he was a deposed foreign prince was all a part of the fun. As I wrote in my original review of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Lithgow and co-star Norbert Leo Butz frequently utilized an acting style that recalled the glory days of The Three Stooges, providing a fantasy for the average American lug who could look up at the stage of the Imperial Theatre and think, "If he can land the hot babes with that fake snooty accent, so can I!"

But with Jonathan Pryce now taking over the role, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels makes a sharp 180 degree turn into the highbrow lane. Moe Howard has been replaced by Cyril Ritchard. Without taking anything away from the hilarious Lithgow, Pryce has reinvented the role into something subtler, craftier and often just plain bizarre.

A bit subdued in his opening scenes, perhaps taking a cue from the lines where his character reveals his boredom with the elegant life, we see Jameson transform into a bit of a madman once he decides to take on the vulgar Freddy Benson (Butz) as a protégé. Like his superb arrested adolescent take on Henry Higgins in the West End's most recent My Fair Lady, Pryce's shamelessness is quite appropriate for the evening's proceedings. He plunges into the script's broader moments with gusto, even though hearing fart jokes and references to shaking one's booty land little peculiarly on the ear in his cultured tones. When the plot requires him to slip into the guise of the sadistic doctor, he slithers about with mad serpentine physicality. If a gag doesn't receive sufficient laughter from the audience, the man simply stares the crowd down as if ordering them to laugh louder, without ever making the routine seem cheap. Or at least, smartly playing the cheapness of the moment.

Norbert Leo Butz continues to dazzle in his Tony-winning role of Freddy, who bets he can out-swindle the master. His "Great Big Stuff", danced with a rubber-legged, testosterone-driven mania suggesting a cross between Ray Bolger and the Antichrist, is arguably the funniest song performance currently gracing the New York stage.

While Sherrie Rene Scott takes a break to appear Off-Broadway in Landscape of the Body, the talented Rachel York has stepped in to play the naïve American who becomes the unwitting subject of a wager between the boys. While the role was undoubtedly tailored to Scott's soft, cheery innocence, so reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe at her funniest, York is quite loveable while cranking it up a bit to pom-pom girl energy. She adds a fun twist to her final scenes and hits the stratosphere singing some added top notes.

Another new company member, Mylinda Hull, gives a rowdy toughness to the pocket-sized role of an Oklahoma heiress and scores some good laughs of her own while playing foil for the two leads.

Original cast members Joanna Gleason and Gregory Jbara offset the rowdiness of the main plot with effervescent, self-effacing romantic sophistication. Their Act II song and dance, "Like Zis/Like Zat" is the finest example of musical comedy wit and high humor to be seen on today's Broadway stage.

But the real star of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remains composer/lyricist David Yazbek. While artists like Michael John LaChiusa and Adam Guettel may be seen as shining young lights of the musical drama, Yazbek is raising the old "tired businessman musical" to fresh new levels. Surpassing his excellent work in The Full Monty, his score for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a seamless mixture of jazz, hip-hop, country-western and traditional showtune, framing lyrics that fit every height or depth of brow imaginable. In this versatile score, a sumptuous ballad asking us to "see how the moon behaves" can co-exists with a light jazz waltz where a snooty French accent can force a rhyme out of "castle" and "asshole."

A year after opening, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remains my recommendation for those wanting to see A Broadway Musical Comedy.

Photos by Carol Rosegg: Top: Mylinda Hull and Jonathan Pryce

Center: Norbert Leo Butz and Jonathan Pryce

Bottom: Rachel York