Book by Jeffrey Lane; music and lyrics by David Yazbek; based on the film "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" written by Dale Launer and Stanley Shapiro & Paul Henning; scenic designer, Michael Schweikardt; costume designer, Jose M. Rivera; lighting designer, Christopher S. Chambers; sound designer, James R. McCartney; production stage manager, Gail Eve Malatesta; orchestrations, Hugh Wheeler; vocal arrangements, Ted Sperling and David Yazbek; dance music arrangements, Zane Mark; musical direction, Steven Freeman; choreography, Denis Jones; directed by Mark Martino
Cast in order of appearance:
Lawrence Jameson, Brent Barrett; Andre Thibault, John Scherer; Lenore, Erin Henry; Sophia, Lael Van Keuren; Muriel Eubanks, Lynne Winterstellar; Conductor, Jody Reynard; Freddy Benson, D.B. Bonds; Renee, Natalie Ryder; Usherette, Krista Kurtzberg; Jolene Oakes, Jennifer Cody; Christine Colgate, Brynn O'Malley; Hotel Manager, Aaron Umsted; Sailors, Warren Curtis, Franklyn Warfield; Nikos, Chris Klink
Performances: Now through October 10, North Shore Music Theatre, 62 Dunham Rd., Beverly, Mass.
Tickets: Priced from $35 to $65; available online at www.nsmt.org or by calling the box office at 978-232-7200.
Keep an eye on your family jewels if you have the good fortune to venture out to Beverly, Mass. between now and October 10 to see the North Shore Music Theatre's raucous production of Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek's outrageous celebration of lying, cheating, scheming, and double-crossing, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. This very funny musical adaptation of the zany 1988 film about dueling con artists on the French Riviera earned 11 Tony Award nominations when it debuted on Broadway in 2005. Had it not opened the same season as blockbusters Light in the Piazza, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and the even more irreverent, star-studded juggernaut Spamalot (which went on to win the Tony for Best Musical that year), Scoundrels could have stolen a lot more attention - and acclaim.
NSMT has assembled a topnotch Broadway-credentialed cast
that leaps headlong into the lunacy created when lowlife American grifter Freddy Benson (D. B. Bonds) stumbles upon the debonair Lawrence Jameson's (Brent Barrett) elegant swindles and wants a piece of the lucrative action. At first repulsed then intrigued by the idea of teaming up with someone so "deliciously low," Lawrence ultimately decides to take Freddy on as his protégé, teaching him how to dress, speak, eat and behave in polite society. When their egos get the better of them and they decide this town isn't big enough for the both of them, they make a bet to see who can be the first to fleece naïve American heiress Christine Colgate (Brynn O'Malley) out of $50,000. The comedy escalates as the ruses Lawrence and Freddy invent to outdo each other become more and more preposterous.
