Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the musical based on the 1988 movie of the same name which starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin, opened in San Diego, California in 2004 and starred John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz, who won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical in 2005.

MUMCO had its hands full with this full scale musical and on the most part it succeeded to deliver.

Manning the helm of this production as director was Tyler Hess. Tyler has a keen eye for detail and makes the most of every moment. The opening number in Venice, with the entire cast dressed in white, was very elegant and set the pace for the rest of the show. Tyler’s use of the moon painting where he superimposed video of the main characters jet-setting around the world with the ensemble dressed in the appropriate attire was very clever. Tyler worked hard with this relatively young cast, bringing comic timing, accents and characterizations to the fore.

 Tyler’s set design along with co-designer Yossi Torbiner was simple yet very effective – the multi-coloured glowing palm trees were a highlight. The sets on the main part glided in and out, but it was a pity the backstage crew stomped about unnecessarily. Tyler’s costume design was also effective and well balanced with a great use of colours against the white back drop of the stage.

A man of many talents, Tyler also co-choreographed alongside Sophie Briggs. The choreography was simple, well thought out and well executed by the cast.

Lighting design by Brenton Van Vliet was appropriate for this production and each scene was lit well. Keeping in mind he had a difficult job working with a white stage it could have easily been too over the top.

Brenton also did the Sound Design. Unfortunately the sound really let this production down. Cues were missed and microphone reception cut in and out. The audience missed most of the dialogue in the opening number and microphone issues during Jolene’s main number was a great disappointment.

Natalie Reid was the Musical Director for the production. On the whole the orchestra was way too loud for this production and it appeared that either Natalie couldn’t control the orchestra or Brenton couldn’t achieve an appropriate sound balance between vocals and accompaniment. Not being able to hear the ensemble during several numbers was of great concern especially when there were 27 people in the ensemble. Volume aside, the orchestra was tight and the ensemble, when heard, was very good.

 Ashley McPherson and Dan Gale took the lead roles of Lawrence and Freddy respectively. Both made the most of their roles and gave tremendous performances. To learn that this was Dan’s stage debut was amazing – he handled the role like a pro.

Another find was Lucia Craven as Christine Colgate. Sporting a pure voice and fine acting ability, Christine owned the stage whenever she appeared.  Cathy Brockelhurst as Oklahoma born Jolene Oakes also had a great voice and gave the role great characterization. All four leads were very impressive and I hope to see them in more productions to come.

Dianna Tarr and Jeremy Wells as Muriel Eubanks and Andre Thibault both had good singing voices, although I felt their performances needed work. I didn’t believe Dianna’s passion for her leading man. Dianna and Jeremy’s scenes were very stilted and needed more work.

Being the Australian Non-Professional premiere this was the first time I have had to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. This is a very funny, witty show with a clever score. It was a very enjoyable night out at the theatre and I left smiling and humming the songs. And the program was great!

It will be interesting to see what MUMCO do to follow up this great production.

Gavin has been involved in theatre for the past 26 years, reining from Geelong where he played such roles as Jud Fry in Oklahoma! Juan Peron in Evita, he moved to Melbourne over 10 years ago and has performed in "Into the Woods as the Baker, Jeffrey in Godspell and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Having performed in over 30 productions, Gavin went onto direct Hot Mikado for Nightowl Productions for which he received a Guild Judges award. Gavin has also directed several productions for Loyola Musical Society and performed in MLOC's Production of Beauty and the Beast featuring as Cogsworth the clock last year.