"Scoundrels" Tour: Still Great Big Stuff

            David Yazbek has the most dirty rotten luck.  He has had two shows open on Broadway, and both were said to be sure fire winners come awards season, thus insuring long, healthy lives.  His first, The Full Monty, was a fun fest of laughs and heart, with one of the best scores in decades.  Even the New York Times liked it.  A lot.  Then a little show called The Producers opened, and the rest is history.  His next go round, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was hailed as a suave, sophisticated, smart show.  Again it has everything going for it – the hit of the season they said.  Winner!  Winner!  Winner!  And then… Spamalot.  Well, I have often contended, and still do, that both of Yazbek's gems are superior to both of the others, and content myself with saying good doesn't equal popular (though neither show had short runs).  And it almost pleases me to hear, more and more, the both The Producers and Spamalot aren't quite the great shows they were thought to be without their original casts.  Anyway, The Full Monty continues to have a healthy life regionally, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is in the midst of a national tour.

             With a mostly excellent main cast and a terrific ensemble, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is conning folks from coast to coast.  The show, based on the Steve Martin-Michael Caine film of the same title, is just what the New York critics say it is – smart, sophisticated and very, very funny.  The book, by Jeffrey Lane is just as sharp and witty as Yazbek's lyrics that range from tongue-in-cheek to subversive to downright vulgar.  Nearly every line, spoken or sung, is funny.  If you don't laugh, get to a doctor and have him look at your funny bone!  The best part is that the humor is not limited to the script and songs.  Everything about this lavish, (unbelievably, the Broadway production was even more so) beautifully appointed production has a sense of humor.  The expansive Mediterranean blue set is a calm background for the manic hijinx that is taking place upon it.  In the con man's home, his office is dominated by a HUGE tapestry of a fox stalking a quail and peacock – classy and subtly funny, just like the whole show.  Piece after piece of jewel toned and jewel encrusted scenery either flies in from above, or whirls in on the turn table.  Clearly, designer David Rockwell and director Jack O'Brien and choreographer Jerry Mitchell worked very closely together – no turntable before it has been used so effectively or creatively, not even that other show famous for its turntable.  And the entire cast so breezily gets on and off it, it fun to see what they will do next, be it dancing ("The More We Dance") or working it like a runway ("The Only Game in Town") or creating interesting visuals ("Great Big Stuff").  The costumes by Gregg Barnes and the lighting by Kenneth Posner add the perfect colorful highlights and dashing savoir faire to the evening.  In short, the production values, like the show itself, are top-notch.

            The cast does an excellent job maintaining high levels of energy throughout the entire two hours and forty-five minutes of the show. Jenifer Foote, as Jolene, the poor sap who gets swindled in act one is all legs and sass, doing a fine rendition of her song, "Oklahoma?" line dancing her heart out.  She is the first of several energy spikes the show gets.  It's a shame you don't see her again until the curtain call.  As Muriel, the woman who wants to be taken, but has no real purpose (she admits as much in the act one finale), Hollis Resnik is a gem.  At times, she seems to be channeling the late, great Madeline Kahn, and others, just a touch of the originator of the role, Joanna Gleason.  Happily, though, Resnik really makes the part her own, and is especially dead on when singing her "What Was a Woman to Do?" reprises.  Her foil, the police chief of the take, Andre, is perhaps the only weak link in the show.  As played by Drew McVety, there is nothing particularly charming or calculating about his character and he seems to have little sense of humor about the whole affair.  (His Broadway counterpart, Gregory Jbara, was absolutely sublime in the role and a master at underplaying for laughs.) 

          Laura Marie Duncan, like Resnik, seems to be paying homage to her character's creator while putting her own stamp on it.  She plays Christine Colgate, a naïve innocent from Ohio, recently named America's Soap Queen, and thus on a tour of Europe and flush with cash. Duncan sounds almost exactly like Sherie Renee Scott, and yet seems to be creating her own fresh character.  She has exciting chemistry with both of her leading men, and is completely engaging.  Often the dumb blonde routine grows old quickly, but Duncan infuses Christine with just enough spunk and backbone so as to make you root for her not to be taken.  She comes out of the gate like gangbusters with her entrance number, "Here I Am", and never lets up until the final curtain (I picture her bouncing around backstage during intermission.)  And she is a hoot in "Love is My Legs"; her double takes and reactions throughout the show are masterfully timed and very specific.

            Of course, the main draws of the show are the two con men, engaged in a battle of wits and a sort of turf war.  Tom Hewitt, in the role of Lawrence Jameson, is probably the best singer the role has had, and he exudes a slimy, self-involved charm from curtain to curtain, and handles the overt comedy deftly, particularly during "Ruffhousin' mit Shuffhausen", where he knows exactly where the line between just right and over the top is.  And he is totally believable when he falls for the woman he is trying to con. 

          Timothy Gulan has the daunting task of following Tony-winner Norbert Leo Butz in the role of Freddy, the young upstart con man vying for the money of a young woman.  But Gulan does nicely; he's not Butz, but that is perfectly ok.  He is extremely well-suited to the physical demands of the role.  And even from far back in the house, you can tell that he has a twinkle in his eye and loves every minute of it.  The laughs and spectacle never stop, from beginning to shocking surprise ending.

 

            Sadly, the luck of Yazbek seems to have trickled down to this tour.  Recently, several weeks of the engagement were cancelled (including a whole week in Baltimore), and reports surfaced that after two more stops in Florida, the tour will go on hiatus for "downsizing".  Alas, that means less fun scenery, and I am sure several fewer cast members.  I hope that the producers to cost-cut to the point of ruining this terrific show.  Baltimore, we sure were the lucky ones after all.

 

PHOTOS: Main Page: Timothy Gulan and Tom Hewitt.  TOP to BOTTOM: "Great Big Stuff", Timothy Gulan, center; Jenifer Foote and Tom Hewitt in "Oklahom?"; Drew McVety and Hollis Resnik, "Like Zis/Like Zat"; Laura Marie Duncan (center) in "Here I Am"; "Love is My Legs" Laura Marie Duncan and Timothy Gulan; Timothy Gulan in "All About Ruprecht";  and Timothy Gulan and Tom Hewitt in "Dirty Rotten Number."

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