Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Being a fan of the 1988 film I was very excited to be asked to come and watch CUDOS’ latest production ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels the Musical’.  I was particularly interested to see how the production made the leap from screen to stage and intrigued to see your spin on it. 

As usual with a CUDOS production the auditorium was full and there was plenty for the waiting audience to see, as there were several pieces of set either side of the stage.  You are always particularly good at making full use of the auditorium and these scenes, either side of the stage, allow you to accomplish that.

The production started with a good upbeat song and dance routine ‘Give Them What They Want’ this was fun and showed the good range of costumes that were going to be on stage during the production and also showed the great choreography that would also be evident.  Unfortunately, the sound during this first scene wasn’t great and the talking was very hard to hear, this is a regular issue at The Victoria Hall, however thankfully this was resolved very quickly and didn’t seem to cause too much of a problem after about the first 10 minutes, making it much improved on previous shows.  The lighting by Mike Best and Josh Chant was incredibly good, bright and very colourful and certainly added a lot to the show without distracting once.

The set design by Ann and Dave Brolly was incredibly effective, the hotel scenes looked elegant but then were changed very quickly into Lawrence’s home and other scenes with the minimum amount of fuss.  Particularly impressive was the way you opened a door and suddenly pulled, seemingly out of nowhere, Ruprecht’s abode and the restaurant.  This was a really clever idea that worked very well and saved the hassle of timely scene changes.  In my reviews I often find myself saying that a simple set done well is effective, however you somehow managed to make a complicated set simple, which is not an easy task so well done.  It didn’t hurt that it also looked really impressive and stylish.

The costumes by Jackie Dyer and Helen Wickens were great, and fitted the style and the feel of the show well.  The costumes of the main characters, Lawrence and Freddy, were particularly good and incredibly similar to the film that the show is based on, and who could not like Jolene’s costume which was perfectly over the top.

Producing a musical is incredibly tricky and so much of it hangs on the music itself.  Nowadays there seems to be so many more options available to directors, from the computer Rocs system all the way up to having a full orchestra.  Therefore, it was particularly impressive to see that you managed to get such a full sound from only a three-piece band and a lot of that must come down to Matthew Rock as your Musical Director and piano/keyboard player.  The singing was also of a very high standard, apart from one song where the singer may have got a bit carried away and was a little bit shouty.  The majority of the singing coupled with some beautiful harmonies tied together well with the good work of the band and produced a lovely sound throughout the evening. 

Although it was a shame to not see Sarah Elliott up on the stage, she still had a very vital part to play in this production, that of choreographer, and what a choreographer!  All the dance numbers were lively and upbeat, and there was a lovely range of different styles of dancing for the different songs which all fitted very well.  It was very refreshing to see some more inventive moves than the standard grape vines and box steps.  All the dancing was executed beautifully as well, with all the dancers looking synchronised and enthusiastic.

With any production, it doesn’t matter how great the choreography, the lighting or the set is, as the play really hangs on the abilities of your principals and CUDOS rarely have a problem in this field.  Robert Judge put a very dry twist on the part of André that worked incredibly well, effectively quite a small part, Robert managed to milk a lot of humour from the role, even if his accent did slip a couple of times.  Robert worked well with the rest of the cast but definitely seemed to step up a level when partnered with Diana Hodgson as Muriel, these two actors obviously had a great chemistry together.  I have not seen a performance where Diana does not give at least 110% and her professionalism is there for all to see.

In a play where the two main leads get most of the attention it could be easy for other actors to slip into the background somewhat, however not Beth Harris who really held her own as Christine.  According to the programme Beth ‘has now found the confidence to take on a leading role’ but based on her performance it seems to me that confidence is one thing she is not short of.  Finally, rounding off the supporting players was Lisa Gage as the Texan Jolene, an incredibly humorous role which must have been great fun to play.  Again, according to the programme, this was Lisa’s first principal role and there can’t be a finer compliment to Lisa to say that you really couldn’t tell, and she was incredible in her portrayal.

However, this play is effectively about the two leads and it is always hard when you go to see a play version of a well-known TV show or film to differentiate between the actors on stage and the actors that you know, ultimately you can’t help but compare the two.  An even bigger problem here is that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is such an iconic film and Michael Caine and Steve Martin are such fantastic actors, that anyone taking on these roles would struggle, surely?  Tomas Lowe took on the Steve Martin role of Freddy.  Tom did a very good job of playing this iconic part and even adopted a suitably American accent for the performance.  Steve Martin is a very manic performer and although Tom’s portrayal was a little more reserved he still managed to bring a lot to the part.  I have known Tom for several years and I have to say this is the easily the best performance I have seen him give, with his rendition of Ruprecht being the highlight of the show.  I am led to believe he really enjoyed this role and it was abundantly obvious, and really shone through.  Well done Tom.  Nick Harris took on the Michael Caine role of Lawrence, Nick’s portrayal was perfect, very debonair very sophisticated and sometimes just falling out of his depth (as the character, not Nick himself).  It seemed like Nick also enjoyed playing this character and that enthusiasm also came across in his performance.  Nick was definitely the star performer on the night and the lynch pin to the whole production.  There can be no better compliment I can give than to say towards the end of the play I asked myself Michael who?  Occasionally, I am very lucky to see a show where someone is just perfectly cast and you can’t think of anyone else who could play the role, and this was definitely one of those times.

Overall this was a very strong production and one of the best I have seen from CUDOS, I was really impressed that you attempted to come out of your comfort zone and so pleased that the attempt was successful.  A big well done to everyone involved it was a really great show and you managed to ‘Give Them What They Want’ in spades.

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