Presented by Opus Performing Arts Community
Reviewed Sunday 17 October 2010
http://www.opus.net.au
http://www.hopgoodtheatre.com.au
Venue: Hopgood Theatre, Ramsay Place, Noarlunga Centre
Season: 16, 21, & 22 October at 8pm; 17 October at 4pm; and 23 October at 2pm & 8pm
Duration: 2 hours plus interval
Tickets: Adult: $27.50; Concession $22.50; Groups 10+ $22.50; Friends Club Member: $22.50; OPUS Member $22.50
Bookings: Phone (08) 8207 3977 or online at http://www.hopgoodtheatre.com.au
I can’t recall the last time our fabulous southern theatre troupes have premiered a big musical, but the dirty rotten scoundrels down south have trumped the city theatre groups with the South Australian premiere of this fantastic Broadway comedy-musical.
Written by Jeffrey Lane, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek, the play is based on the 1988 comedy film of the same name that featured Steve Martin and Michael Caine as two con men on the French Riviera who compete to scam $50,000 from a naive American heiress, soap queen Janet Colgate.
For the Opus Performing Arts Community, director Harry Dewar has done this show proud with some slick, well paced storytelling enabled by Tom Bayford’s excellent set design and a competent backstage crew.
Dewar and his cast have stepped well beyond the droll script to serve up ample extra laughs throughout.
Doug Wiggins’ professional acting background stands him in good stead as con man Lawrence, who seduces wealthy ladies out of their money. He’s suave, sophisticated and completely convincing as a big time crook.
As the small time con man who invades Lawrence’s turf, David Salter is hysterically funny, ranging from subtle to vulgar in the blink of an eye. The sublime choreography and antics during the song “Nothing is too Wonderful to be True” are simply priceless.
As the focus of their attention, Fiona DeLaine is enchanting as clumsy heiress Christine Colgate, whose charming naivety threatens to undo the scam. April Stuart is a comedy highlight as Omaha heiress Muriel; and in an all too short appearance, Lauren Scarfe provides one of the musical highlights as an oil heiress from Oaklahoma.
The primary cast is completed by Lindsay Dunn who delights as corrupt Chief of Police Andre Thibault.
The 13-member chorus play multiple roles and ably supports the leads with lots of funny business and high energy. Keep an eye on Thorin Cupit as the hotel manager in particular.
The cast are all in fine voice under the excellent musical direction of Mark DeLaine. So too is his 16-piece band, who opened a little shaky but quickly warmed into a stellar orchestra.
Musical highlights include the songs “Great Big Stuff”, sung by Salter; “Oklahoma”, sung by Scarfe and Wiggins; and “Love is My Legs”, performed by Salter and Fiona DeLaine.
On the down side, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is an adult comedy with its fair share of mild cussing and crudity. Unfortunately, this step away from family entertainment appears to have given the cast a false sense of freedom to go well beyond acceptable speech for a show like this. They seem yet to learn that a certain four letter word beginning with F can easily be lip-read when mouthed and it appears more than once in the show.
The choreography by Melanie George is superb, playing to the cast’s talents and often supplementing the comedy.
Sadly, the microphones let the show down, often turning on late, suffering feedback, or cutting in and out. Thankfully the cast project loud enough to be heard but the distraction does cause some frustration. It can only get better as the season progresses and these technical glitches are sorted out.
There seems to be a great surge of premieres hitting our stages over recent years after a long glut of tried and true classics. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is certainly one of the most fun. It’s well executed with a highly competent cast and crew.
Leave the kids at home and treat yourself to some criminal intent.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis, Performing Arts Critic, Glam Adelaide.
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