Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Edmonds

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Edmonds

Saturday night, I was part of a discussion about writing a story as a straight play versus writing it as a musical and the possibilities that each medium might open up. Sunday afternoon provided an illustration of the difference in the form of the Edmond’s Driftwood Players’s production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

I saw (part of) the 1988 film recently. Steve Martin, Michael Caine, what’s not to love, right? The movie, sadly. There is a scene where Steve Martin (as Freddy) is pretending to have no feeling in his legs. Michael Caine (as Lawrence) whacks Freddy repeatedly in order to get him to react and reveal the scam. It came across as predictable, plodding and sadistic.

The same scene, done by Driftwood in the musical number, Ruffhousin' Mit Shüffhausen, complete with yodeling and choreography highlighted the zaniness, not the pain. It was hilarious. Instead of waiting for the scene to be over, I wanted more.

Google describes the story like this: "Con artist Lawrence Jamieson … is a longtime resident of a luxurious coastal resort, where he enjoys the fruits of his deceptions -- that is, until a competitor, Freddy Benson … shows up. When the new guy's lowbrow tactics impinge on his own work, Jamieson resolves to get rid of him. Confident of his own duplicitous talents, Jamieson challenges Benson to a winner-takes-all competition: whoever swindles their latest mark first can stay, while the other must leave town."

Jay Vilhauer, playing Lawrence proves again that he is a performer who can carry a show. He can sing, dance and act with great comic effect. He and Gabriel Ponce, who plays Freddy work very well together.

Ponce has just the right goofy charm mixed with a little bit of bad-boy scheming to pull off a good Freddy. He really shows his stuff in Great Big Stuff and Love is My Legs.

Several actors come close to stealing the show at times. Katie Gary as Jolene Oakes barrels into Act One, pumping huge energy into the number Oklahoma? Later, in the middle of wacky Act Two, Will Halsey and Kate Kingery as Andre, the chief of police and Muriel, a tourist who fall for each other have two numbers, Like Zis/Like Zat and Like Zis/Like Zat (Reprise) where you feel the love between them. It’s touching and unexpected.

Music director Mark Press shines, as he always does. He and his musicians even get the chance to appear on stage in several scenes where a scrim opens up in front of them.

The show seems to require an astronomical number of scene changes and set rearrangements. These are handled seamlessly with no loss of momentum. Early, there is a scene on a train with Lawrence, Freddy and others that is followed by a song from Muriel, What Was a Woman To Do, and then we are right back on the train. This was accomplished by blacking out the train, going lights up on a platform above just as Muriel reaches the top step. Once her song is over, she descends, lights go down on her and they come up again on the train passengers below. Minimal movement, maximum effect.

It’s well staged and well-suited to the stage as a musical.

Photo from Driftwood's Facebook page.

Originally posted on my Facebook page on April 30, 2018. 

Note: Gabriel Ponce will receive a Gregory Award for this performance at the ceremony on October 22, 2018.