#1
Posted: 3/5/05 at 9:38pm
The only proper way to start off this review is to quote David Finkle, from TheatreMania.com when he wrote, “There's so much clicking into gear as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels revs its motors that a reviewer's dilemma is knowing where to start flinging the highly positive adjectives.”
During previews the only complaint on this board was that in regard to the opening number. I disagree with previous comments. Perhaps it was cleaned up since. It wasn’t as funny as the rest of the show, but I’d rather the show build then have a fantastic opening number and go down hill from there (a la The Lion King/Titanic).
I was a bit worried at the beginning of the show that the audience was not going to be very responsive. Norbert was not receiving many laughs – something I was surprised about after all the raves. My fears were calmed after Great Big Stuff was brilliantly performed and succeeded in stealing hearts of every audience member.
The score is fun, fresh, and new. It is by far the best new score I have heard this season; although it doesn’t have much competition. Spamalot’s would be my pick for second best; yet it is only by default (having absolutely no competition from Dracula, Brooklyn, and Good Vibrations – NOTE: I have yet to see Little Women and Spelling Bee). It succeeded in moving the plot along, showcasing the wondrous voices of Butz and Scott, and was hilarious. My personal favorites were “Great Big Stuff,” “Nothing is to Wonderful to be True,” “Love is my Legs” and “Dirty Rotten Number.”
The set gets the job done for the show. It isn’t the best I have seen, but not worthy of any complaints. It rotating helped in the flow of the show, and you often didn’t notice the new sets coming in. It had great colors, and lines – very traditional musical theatre – and didn’t distract from the plot and characters.
There are no visible flaws in the book, and is by far the best thing about the show. The plot line is hysterical, and has many witty one-liners to boot. It’s a great throwback, as mentioned in another review, to 1940’s and 50’s show. Creators did a seamless job of combining the timeless love triangle with new fresh (and hysterical) twists to it. I don’t know what else to say about this because I feel like I am just using up my entire list of positive adjectives.
Talent is in abundance in the cast of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, not one weak link. The contrast in the two main characters is further seen in the acting choices of Lithgow and Butz. Lithgow has a very innate, subtle sense of humor. Simple facial expressions were the subject of many laughs; something that was probably refined from being on TV. Vocally, he doesn’t have the best voice, but he performs his songs in such a way (with an air of coolness required for the part) that it doesn’t matter. Butz, on the other hand, is more outwardly funny and has done some of the best bits of physical comedy I have ever seen on stage. His voice soars in his songs, and as I said before he makes you fall in love with the character. Both are wonderful, yet this really is Norbert’s show.
It is my belief that Sherie would shine in absolutely anything that is thrown her way. Her songs show off her vocal talent and she has the best one-liners in the show and delivers them perfectly. Joanne Gleason and Gregory Jbara round of the cast. Truthfully, I often skipped over any comments made about Jbara because I didn’t know who he was. Well I do now! He did a great job as Andre and had funny moments on stage, yet I think his accent prevented him from showing off vocally – you could tell there was something more there.
--SPOILERS--
There were two moments that literally stopped the show. The first was in “All About Ruprecht” when Lawrence sings:
“The Bush's from Tex
were nervous wrecks
because their son was dim...
but look what happened to him!”
The second was at the end of “Dirty Rotten Number.” It was amazing, and for all the right reasons, and the audience knew that.
During previews the only complaint on this board was that in regard to the opening number. I disagree with previous comments. Perhaps it was cleaned up since. It wasn’t as funny as the rest of the show, but I’d rather the show build then have a fantastic opening number and go down hill from there (a la The Lion King/Titanic).
I was a bit worried at the beginning of the show that the audience was not going to be very responsive. Norbert was not receiving many laughs – something I was surprised about after all the raves. My fears were calmed after Great Big Stuff was brilliantly performed and succeeded in stealing hearts of every audience member.
The score is fun, fresh, and new. It is by far the best new score I have heard this season; although it doesn’t have much competition. Spamalot’s would be my pick for second best; yet it is only by default (having absolutely no competition from Dracula, Brooklyn, and Good Vibrations – NOTE: I have yet to see Little Women and Spelling Bee). It succeeded in moving the plot along, showcasing the wondrous voices of Butz and Scott, and was hilarious. My personal favorites were “Great Big Stuff,” “Nothing is to Wonderful to be True,” “Love is my Legs” and “Dirty Rotten Number.”
The set gets the job done for the show. It isn’t the best I have seen, but not worthy of any complaints. It rotating helped in the flow of the show, and you often didn’t notice the new sets coming in. It had great colors, and lines – very traditional musical theatre – and didn’t distract from the plot and characters.
There are no visible flaws in the book, and is by far the best thing about the show. The plot line is hysterical, and has many witty one-liners to boot. It’s a great throwback, as mentioned in another review, to 1940’s and 50’s show. Creators did a seamless job of combining the timeless love triangle with new fresh (and hysterical) twists to it. I don’t know what else to say about this because I feel like I am just using up my entire list of positive adjectives.
Talent is in abundance in the cast of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, not one weak link. The contrast in the two main characters is further seen in the acting choices of Lithgow and Butz. Lithgow has a very innate, subtle sense of humor. Simple facial expressions were the subject of many laughs; something that was probably refined from being on TV. Vocally, he doesn’t have the best voice, but he performs his songs in such a way (with an air of coolness required for the part) that it doesn’t matter. Butz, on the other hand, is more outwardly funny and has done some of the best bits of physical comedy I have ever seen on stage. His voice soars in his songs, and as I said before he makes you fall in love with the character. Both are wonderful, yet this really is Norbert’s show.
It is my belief that Sherie would shine in absolutely anything that is thrown her way. Her songs show off her vocal talent and she has the best one-liners in the show and delivers them perfectly. Joanne Gleason and Gregory Jbara round of the cast. Truthfully, I often skipped over any comments made about Jbara because I didn’t know who he was. Well I do now! He did a great job as Andre and had funny moments on stage, yet I think his accent prevented him from showing off vocally – you could tell there was something more there.
--SPOILERS--
There were two moments that literally stopped the show. The first was in “All About Ruprecht” when Lawrence sings:
“The Bush's from Tex
were nervous wrecks
because their son was dim...
but look what happened to him!”
The second was at the end of “Dirty Rotten Number.” It was amazing, and for all the right reasons, and the audience knew that.
I want to write music. I want to sit down right now at my piano and write a song that people will listen to and remember and do the same thing every morning...for the rest of my life. - Jonathan Larson. Tick, Tick...BOOM!
Updated On: 3/5/05 at 09:38 PM
