Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - quick 1st night review included — Page 3

Butz deserves a nomination, as does Lithgow. I still liked Sutton in Little Women though for females, but she'd be in a different category, right? Gleason deserves one too, along with the lead. I liked Gleasons line while the balcony moved offstage - "is the balcony moving???" lol

Derek - there's a song list on Page 1 of the thread.

All the good buzz about this show is making me so excited! I'm not going to get to see it unless a miracle happens, so I'm anxiously awaiting a recording :)

Going tomorrow afternoon, and cant wait after reading this thread !! Just hope all of the leads will be performing in the matinee !!

As I mentioned before, I saw the first performance after the official opening night for critics in San Diego. Already the show was amazing, winning an immediate and enthusiastic standing ovation. What I find very interesting is how little seems to have changed in the months since I saw the show. The current song list is exactly the same songs/same order all the way to the reprise of Like Zis/Like Zat. After that there appear to be only two new songs. In place of "Above the Waist" and "The Soap" (can't remember what those were about) are the now featured "Son of Great Big Stuff" and "The Reckoning," which sound better just from the titles. My program lists the final two songs as "Dirty, Rotten..." and "Give Them What They Want (Reprise)" and the current final two are "Dirty Rotten Number" and "Finale" (so maybe pretty much the same). All in all, this would seem to indicate a pretty strong show with very little need to make changes, at least in the songs. Regarding some above comments, Sara G.'s part is indeed smallish (but with a real show-stopping song and a sure-thing Tony nod for Best Supporting Actress)--but that's as it should be. She's merely one of the first victims. I liked John L., but this is indeed Norbert Leo's show--he steals every scene he's in, and will finally become the Broadway superstar he deserves to be. Sherie Rene makes a rather late entrance for a starring role, so though she does have the main female role, her part is much smaller than John's and Norbert's. She'll probably be up for Best Actress, if only not to be in competition with Sara.

Gah i want to see this soooooooo bad!!! Thank you everyone for all the reviews! Keep them coming!

For those of you who have seen it, have any of you done the stage door thing?

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This is definitely on my MUST SEE list, along with Spamalot.

Woo Hoo!

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It's great when a show gets across the board raves - let's hope this is the case.
Do you think with Yazbek has a chance at Best Score? Adam Guettel is my favorite young composer and it certainly could be tough competition for Tony judges given the difference of material. But I think Yazbek could have a shot at it, considering he deserved it in 2001. If I had my druthers, Guettel would win - but considering the show, you never know. Q beat Caroline for score.

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Updated On: 2/3/05 at 01:02 PM

Yeah, I caught that. Sherrie Rene Scott's silver bracelet fell off, and Norbert slipped on it, which was really scary to see. Then I spent the rest of the curtain call worried that someone else was going to slip on it and break their neck.

Also saw Norbert fall at the end - he did a great job of popping back up again as if nothing had happened.

Also, John Lithgow had something red (lipstick maybe) stuck to his right cheek for part of the first act - the Texan gal seemed to notice it though and managed to smudge it off (sorta) at the table while they were sitting. Still noticed the red smudge in Act 2, was suprised they didnt get rid of it at intermission!

Just bought some more tickets for May. Was difficult getting decent seats!!!

My roommate saw it last night and hated it. He said he thought it was a little vulgar and common. He said it was another one of those musicals that was one big inside joke. He said it was almost like it was commenting on itself like "We are so funny and clever!" He said that he was papered in and that he was certainly glad he didn't pay for it.

I agree that the show seemed to be saying "we are so funny and clever," but I felt like they were doing so for a thematic reason. The show is about conartists. Therefore, a good deal of the humor and staging emphasized the ways that theatre itself is a con, and that we in the audience are the (willing, eager) victims of the con.

I can understand someone finding that type of humor annoying or not funny, but its certainly is not a situation where the show went for easy the easy humor by making fun of its audience.