Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Reviews — Page 3

USA TODAY is Mixed (**1/2 stars):

"What the show lacks, for all its drollness, is a set of characters or situations worth caring about. As much of current pop culture proves, it's easier and more instantly gratifying to mock hollowness than to challenge it. The problem with relentless sarcasm, though, is that it tends to make any emotional engagement suspect. When John Lithgow, playing the confirmed cad Lawrence Jameson, confesses his growing feelings for a young woman in the affecting ballad Love Sneaks In, what should be a tender moment seems incongruously sentimental.

Thanks to O'Brien and his cast, Scoundrels maintains a high entertainment quotient. In addition to Lithgow, who lends his usual effortless panache, it includes Norbert Leo Butz, turning in a game, giddy performance as Freddy Benson, the younger and rawer of the scoundrels.

Sherie Rene Scott has less to work with as the seemingly guileless blonde whom Freddy and Lawrence vie for, but she contributes a sweet presence and a tangy voice. And the always excellent Joanna Gleason sails through the part of a desperately determined divorcee.

But in the end, like its title characters, Scoundrels is apt to leave you feeling titillated but somehow cheated."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2005-03-03-dirty-rotten-scoundrels_x.htm

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I would not call Broadway.com's a rave, I would say it is mostly positive.

("If music be the food of love, he ate my smorgasbord," sings Ms. Gleason, whose delivery throughout is so deadpan as to verge on posthumous.)"

Is this a compliment or an insult?

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I absolutely disagree. I think Norbert displayed brilliant comedic skills, especially in his physical comedy, and gave knock-out performance. He's fun, tenacious and lovable. Anything but embarassing.

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Don't even bother Emcee, MusicMan hates everything. If not for the disparity between the Times review and MusicMan's hatred of Butz's performance, I'd think MusicMan might be Brantley himself.

"Well, pace Brantley, but Butz doesn't quite pull it off either and the crass physicality of the performance is at times downright embarassing."

Sounds vague enough to be "ripped from the Times" to me.

Your condescending tone does improve my opinion of you and I don't quite understand how you get off speaking down to someone who actually attempts to give insight instead of just bashing everything in sight.

You've got it backwards, don't you, Mattio? I posted my impressions about the show. It wasn't directed at you or anyone else. Yet, apropos of nothing, you took a swipe at me. Talk about bashing! Very uncool. If you don't like my posts or can't tolerate a dissenting opinion, then, please, don't read them or block me. Otherwise, find somebody else to join you in your sandbox.

Updated On: 3/4/05 at 01:57 AM

"Butz doesn't quite pull it off either and the crass physicality of the performance is at times downright embarassing."

I have to agree - while I don't dislike Butz, I don't think he deserves all the raves. I despised crass physicality. And that almost ruined the show for me.

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Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on this *** 1/2 rave from Clive Barnes:

March 4, 2005 --
"W.C. Fields had a rule: Never work with children or ani mals. Were he still alive, he'd probably add Norbert Leo Butz to the list.

As he showed once more in the super-smart new musical "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," which opened last night, any scene Butz can't steal isn't worth stealing.

Luckily for us, the rest of the fantastic cast — including Butz's co-stars, the ever-suave John Lithgow and the ever-effervescent Sherie Rene Scott — is up to his finger-pickin' ways and refuse to go along meekly with the heist.

The result is one of the liveliest, best-performed musicals in years. And the musical itself ain't chopped liver, either!

Based on the same-named 1988 movie starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" tells of a patrician English con artist, Lawrence Jameson (Lithgow) whose French Riviera territory is imperiled by a brash and vulgar young American, Freddy Benson (Butz).

The newcomer tries to apprentice himself to the old hand, but after a calamitously funny bout with a shallow-in-the-heart Oklahoman heiress (a delightfully wacky Sara Gettelfinger), Lawrence wants Freddy out of his con man's heaven.

Freddy refuses to go.



They settle upon a gentleman's agreement: The first man to con 50 grand out of the newest arrival, a bubbly soap-suds heiress named Christine Colgate (Scott), wins. The loser beats it out of town.

Jeffrey Lane's book, following closely on the heels of the screenplay, is currently the wittiest on Broadway, and David ("The Full Monty") Yazbek's happy music proves tunefully serviceable. Even if you go out merely humming Harold Wheeler's orchestrations, Yazbek's comic, sometimes camp, lyrics are positively inspired.

In every way, this is a superior musical — but what makes it one of the season's major Broadway players is every handsomely honed aspect of its production.

Jack O'Brien's masterly staging doesn't miss a trick, from its use of David Rockwell's imaginative settings and Greg Barnes' apt and glamorous costumes, to its integration of Jerry Mitchell's pitch-perfect choreography and the subtle performances it draws out of the actors.

Lithgow — superior from fingertips to toenails, and imbued with an elegance that could shatter a looking-glass — finds the perfect foil in Butz's grotesquely bravura yet perversely charming cunning.

They are a stunning team. Indeed, watching the savvy way Lithgow lobs back Butz's virtuoso histrionics is one of Broadway's purest delights.

Backing them up are not only the adorable Scott as Christine and Gettelfinger as the crazy Oklahoman, but Gregory Jbara, equally impeccable as Andre, Lawrence's henchman (who handily doubles as the town's Chief of Police), and the giddily ditsy Joanna Gleason as the lady who becomes his love.

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" may not be the most musical of musicals, but it certainly among the funniest, with a six-pack of energized performers delivering a knockout punch to Broadway's funnybone."

Wow, Barnes said EVERYTHING that was in my head. Great pull quotes - bet they're making the posters already.

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Updated On: 3/4/05 at 09:11 AM

Matt,

My only solace (aside from the GREAT Post review, and some good ones from Bergen and Broadway.com) is that I suspect Spamalot's reviews will be pretty weak, as well.

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