DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

Brentwood Operatic Society at Brentwood Theatre

21.10.17

It’s a fine old story, but this musical version, by Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek – an uneasy mix of period charm and crude, edgy humour – needs a very slick and glitzy production to make it work. And Louise Byrne successfully provides it, within the limitations of the Brentwood stage, making for a very entertaining evening.

The setting is simple and versatile, with a raised balcony under which Max Harris’s excellent little band sits, very much a part of the action.

An accomplished company, ensemble and principals alike, and some fine singing, too, making the best of some fairly forgettable numbers.

The show opens with a quartet of French maids – the action is set on the Riviera – and the chorus have a deal of fun as hotel guests, gamblers, Oklahomans and tourists.

The scoundrels of the title are Lawrence, a suave, laid-back swindler, played with a fine sense of style by Martin Harris, though it was perhaps hard to imagine him as a Man of Destiny or the stuff of female dreams. He shone in his disguise as the “Vienna sausage” - the memorable moment where he simply stands, feather poised, was a measure of his dramatic talent. The contrasting other half of this odd couple, the “gorilla en croute” Freddy, was a very physical, very funny Allister Smith. They meet their match in Kate Henderson’s Christine – the Soap Queen – a warm, sunny persona till she shows her true con-woman colours as the Jackal.

Nice work from Lisa Harris as Muriel – her What Was A Woman To Do was a musical high – and Ian Southgate as André, joining her in a lovely old-fashioned song-and-dance duet.

production photograph: Claire Collinson

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

at the Savoy Theatre

17.11.2014

This is a show that can't be accused of taking itself too seriously. And the audience approach it in the same spirit of old-fashioned fun.

First seen on Broadway ten years ago, and based on a Michael Caine movie from the Eighties, it's done as a traditional Musical Comedy, with glamour, gags, and proper chorus boys.

The company is seriously boosted by the arrival in the cast of seasoned troopers Gary Wilmot and Bonnie Langford – their work together is exemplary, and their Like Zis/Like Zat duet in Act Two is one of the best things in the show.

Alex Gaumond now plays Freddy, the slob to the suave Lawrence of Robert Lindsay, who survives from the original cast. Mr Lindsay enjoys sending himself up, undermining his glamour and charm, exchanging banter with the MD Richard and knowing glances with someone in Row E. He channels Henry Higgins, Leslie Philips, and in more reflective moments Michael Aldridge, whom he increasingly grows to resemble.

The design is Riviera Deco, with scenery flying out and sliding in, and the frocks are a delight, too. Less sophisticated is the writing – if the plot pits crass against classy, the former certainly wins out in the words. Just when All About Ruprecht looks set to rival Coward, Freddy's milkshake enema sours the tone. Ah well. The production numbers are impressive – tumbleweed for Oklahoma, and Katherine Kingsley [excellent work as Christine Colgate, the Soap Queen] can make Nothing Is Too Wonderful To Be True, a trite, forgettable ballad, sound like vintage Porter.

A good night out, just the thing for the office Christmas outing, unsubtle escapist nonsense in the sophisticated surroundings of the Savoy.