Theater Review - "Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels"

THEATER REVIEW

“Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels”

Presented by: Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts thru May 19

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur

There are several reasons why you should hurry to see “Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels,” but the main one is best summed-up in two words—Missy Dowse!

I’ve been attending SCPA productions since founder Ken Washington first brought them to Smithtown’s landmark theater, and I’ve never seen a singer, actor, dancer—and all-around endearing ingénue—as impressive as the statuesque girl with the big voice who’s starring as ‘Christine Colegate’ in this tuneful comedy romp.

Thanks largely (but by no means exclusively) to Dowse, this is the slickest Ken Washington musical to date, and that’s saying something, because the impresario produces more hits in a season than the average producer cranks out in a lifetime. Nor has Washington merely been standing in the boat pointing the way throughout the molding of this rapid-fire show, he’s obviously been cracking the whip during rehearsal. How else could the snappy dialogue in this presentation be delivered with such spot-on timing? It’s incredible!

Of course, it helps when a cast is made up of talented professionals. And this play contains a total of twenty-two such performers—sixteen in the energetic ensemble alone! As for the six named players, they work hand-in-glove with the young men and women of the chorus—and just as harmoniously with a spectrum of soup-to-nuts musicians behind the scenes. The whole thing comes off without a hitch.

It may seem that the more players there are on stage, the easier it is to sneak a miscue past an otherwise distracted audience—not so! The opposite is true. Picture a single member of Radio City’s famed ‘Rockettes’ blowing one of those highly synchronized dance steps; the result would be devastating to the entire troupe. No such error ever happened during Saturday’s showing of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” Not a fumbled line, not a missed dance step, or a bungled cue! The only thing even approaching a slip-up was an incident when a wayward curtain inadvertently knocked over an ice bucket, and even then the clever Michael Bertolini playing ‘Lawrence Jamieson’ stayed right in character rendering a wisecrack that could easily have been part of the script. That’s stage presence!

Bertolini’s fellow ‘Scoundrel’ Jeremy Hudson is every bit as inventive during this long, single-intermission show, and like his conniving partner, Hudson fires off dozens of risque lines, grimaces, and devilish asides—keeping them just this side of tawdry. Delicious!

I suppose even the most accomplished performers would be hard-pressed to maintain the machine-gun pace of this musical (based on the 1988 film of the same name and introduced to the Broadway stage just eight years ago), were it not for the delightful semi-changes-of-pace provided by Melanie Lipton and Alyson Clancy playing naughty ‘Muriel’ and brassy ‘Jolene’ respectively. They convince us that they’re having great fun throughout the proceedings, and boyoboy do they ever deliver gusto to the proceedings. If it’s possible for anyone to match the vocal range of the marvelous Missy Dowse, they manage to do so.

In short, there’s no saying enough about this film comedy turned musical, except to say, “Do yourself a serious favor—discover Missy Dowse and her retinue on the south side of Main Street in center-Smithtown—and the earlier you do it between now and May 19, the sooner you’ll be able to take in a second helping of this thoroughly satisfying production.”

Jeb LadouceurAward-winning Smithtown author Jeb Ladouceur has published seven novels. His theater reviews appear in dozens of L. I. newspapers. In Ladouceur’s next thriller, “The Dealer” due this summer, Israeli extortionists threaten to destroy Hoover Dam demolishing the Las Vegas Strip - if casino operators don’t pay millions.

Update on Monday, May 6, 2013 at 1:42PM by .

**Added a link at the top of the page.

Comments

[Nan Stufkosky]

Your Good ! I feel like I saw the musical ! Thanks , Nan

[Andrew Emarius]

What days are the performances? Is there a link for ticket information?