#1
Posted: 9/24/04 at 6:56pm
You’ve read the Variety review of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels posted on this site. Here’s my very different take on this sensational new musical.
First of all, it is HILARIOUS! I have seen hundreds of musicals, and I can’t remember ever laughing this much. And the laughs come as often from David Yazbek’s clever inventive lyrics as from Jeffrey Lane’s equally delightful and occasionally risqué book. And what music! Yazbek’s tunes are melodious and catchy. I only wish I didn’t have to wait until next year for the cast album.
The costumes and sets are colorful and imaginative, and I cannot recall having seen a revolving stage used this effectively.
Finally, the performances! They are all award-worthy. John Lithgow a slick delight, Norbert Leo Butz dazzlingly adorable in a star-making role, Sheri Rene Scott quite delectable and charming, Joanna Gleason and Paul Jbara their usual brilliant selves, and Sara Gettelfinger the kind of scene-stealer that wins awards.
Most of the songs provoked loud cheers along with thunderous applause, and the penultimate duet sung by Lithgow and Butz was followed by the kind of long ovation usually reserved for curtain calls. When the cast did emerge for curtain calls, the audience was on its feet cheering as loudly as did those at the end of Avenue Q and Wicked, Broadway’s two biggest hits.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is magical and dirty and delightful and not the slightest bit rotten!
If it weren’t two hours away, I’d see it again during the run in an instant.
First of all, it is HILARIOUS! I have seen hundreds of musicals, and I can’t remember ever laughing this much. And the laughs come as often from David Yazbek’s clever inventive lyrics as from Jeffrey Lane’s equally delightful and occasionally risqué book. And what music! Yazbek’s tunes are melodious and catchy. I only wish I didn’t have to wait until next year for the cast album.
The costumes and sets are colorful and imaginative, and I cannot recall having seen a revolving stage used this effectively.
Finally, the performances! They are all award-worthy. John Lithgow a slick delight, Norbert Leo Butz dazzlingly adorable in a star-making role, Sheri Rene Scott quite delectable and charming, Joanna Gleason and Paul Jbara their usual brilliant selves, and Sara Gettelfinger the kind of scene-stealer that wins awards.
Most of the songs provoked loud cheers along with thunderous applause, and the penultimate duet sung by Lithgow and Butz was followed by the kind of long ovation usually reserved for curtain calls. When the cast did emerge for curtain calls, the audience was on its feet cheering as loudly as did those at the end of Avenue Q and Wicked, Broadway’s two biggest hits.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is magical and dirty and delightful and not the slightest bit rotten!
If it weren’t two hours away, I’d see it again during the run in an instant.
