Sydney Reviews

Based on the film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels which was based on the film Bedtime Story written by Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a musical with book by Jeffrey Lane and music and lyrics by David Yazbek.

Following in the footsteps of David Niven and Michael Caine, Blake Erickson plays Riviera con man, Lawrence Jamieson, with polished panache complete with pencil thin moustache, nonchalant charm and debonair demeanour.

Rowan Witt follows in the footsteps of Marlon Brando and Steve Martin with his own goofy take on Freddy Benson, an American scam artist at first in cahoots and then in competition with his European counterpart.

Kristina McNamara brings a ring of confidence to Christine Colgate, target of the dirty rotten duo, a confidence that contains its own tricky substrata of softening hearts and turning tables.

Jordan Shea as corrupt cop, Andre Thibault, Jamieson’s confidant and collaborator channels an ancestral link to Casablanca’s Captain Louis Renault.

Aurélie Roque is both energetically funny and effectively poignant as Muriel Eubanks, a droll American divorcée who is initially hoodwinked by Lawrence, only to be enjoined at the groin to Thibault.

As Jolene Oakes, one of Jamieson’s early marks, Scarlet Lindsay injects a formidable sass and pep.

The cast jockey the jokes with a firm rein and steed fast pacing, under the whip hand wit of director and executive producer, Rebecca McNamee.

Music director Dylan Pollard leans into the playfulness and grifter glamour of the score and lyrics.

Set design Sohan Apte is superbly simple and simply superb with a balustrade revolve that not only transitions scenes but transforms them.

Costumes by Angelina Daniel and lighting by James Wallis add to the sense of summer season sizzle and jet set sophistication.

Unabashedly and unapologetically entertaining, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels delights in its hoax hokum, a whimsical hustle of musical comedy bustle. To quote the title of one of the songs, nothing is too wonderful to be true.