Review: Moonbox Productions DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS is a Devilish Delight

The content advisory for Moonbox Productions’ mounting of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” – running through October 20 at Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge – states, “This production contains adult themes and situations, including sexuality, simulated violence, flashing lights, strobe lights and simulated gunshots, as well as profanity and offensive language.”

If that’s not enough to interest you in the musical by composer and lyricist David Yazbek with a book by Jeffrey Lane, then you should also know that, in the very capable hands of director Allison Olivia Choat – Moonbox’s associate artistic director and founding partner – the devilishly funny, sometimes bawdy show is a delight from start to finish.

Based on the 1988 feature film of the same name, starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin, which was a remake of the 1964 film “Bedtime Story,” starring Marlon Brando and David Niven, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” premiered at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre in 2005 with John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz, who won the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for the role of Freddy, in the leads. The show’s North American tour included a March 2007 stop at the Boston Opera House, now Citizens Opera House.

As with the film versions, the story opens on the French Riviera with suave British shyster Lawrence Jameson (a slippery-smooth Matthew Zahnzinger) just back from the bank after persuading his latest mark, a rich heiress, that he’s a prince fighting for his country’s freedom. Jameson then encounters lowbrow American flimflammer Freddy Benson (a slovenly Phil Tayler), who tricks unsuspecting women into paying for his meals and giving him money.

Freddy has loftier goals than free lunches and pin money, however, as we learn in “Great Big Stuff,” a lyrically splendiferous act-one number in which Freddy details his life plan. As he sings, “I want a mansion with a moat, around which I will float with some vast-bottom babies in my glass-bottom boat. A house in the Bahamas, paisley silk pajamas, poker with Al Roker and our friend Lorenzo Lamas!” Any song working in mentions of both Roker and Lamas – and in the same sentence, no less – is not only great big stuff, but also great big fun.

Not interested in sharing his territory with even a disheveled rival, the unrelentingly vain Lawrence immediately sets out to run Freddy off, but instead launches a rivalry between the two that finds both men avariciously circling the kind-hearted “American Soap Queen,” Christine Colgate (the versatile Shonna McEachern). The trio play well off each other – with who’s really playing whom always in play – and show off their strong voices on numbers including Christine and Freddy’s act-one duet, “Nothing Is Too Wonderful to Be True.”

And when both men find themselves genuinely smitten with sweet Christine, all three are wonderful on act two’s “The More We Dance,” backed on this and other numbers by the immensely talented dancers of the ensemble, including Sylvie Barjolo, Molly Dorion, Miki Grubic, Kevin Hanley, AJ Macrina, Sophie Shaw, and Myranda Rose Silva. Jake Siffert’s flawless dance moves make the Boston Conservatory at Berklee senior a stand-out here where he is both an ensemble member and dance captain.

Filling out the canvas are Oklahoma spitfire Jolene Oakes (Tader Shipley), whom Jameson previously swindled; his loyal aide de camp, Inspector André Thibault (Julius P. Williams); and Murial (Christina English), a tourist taken first with the multi-accented con man and later with Thibault.

Deservedly singled out in act one as an example of “great big stuff” is the always impressive conductor and music director Catherine Stornetta, who leads an excellent eight-piece orchestra through every resplendent note, bounce, and sultry slide. Brad Reinking’s splendid choreography enhances the proceedings throughout and moves the action along swimmingly.

E Rosser’s colorful costume designs are well suited to the characters and fit each number. One of this production’s few weaknesses is Peyton Tavares’ virtually nonexistent set, which looks ready for use by any show, or any concert for that matter, at any time, and does little to evoke the Riviera, even subtly.

Tavares, perhaps aided by props designer Andrew Reynolds, does provides some ambience, however, in the form of set pieces that include two canvas beach chairs from which Zahnzinger and Tayler deliver the show’s climactic song, the bouncy “Dirty Little Number.” When they sing, “It was a ball, it was a blast, and it’s a shame it couldn’t last,” it’s hard not to agree with them.

Photo caption: Matthew Zahnzinger, Shonna McEachern, and Phil Tayler in a scene from Moonbox Productions’ “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” Photo by Molly Shoemaker.

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