Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: give them what they want
7 Jul 2025 - Photos by David Hou

The curtain covering the stage is plastered with glitter that shimmers in the light. The tantalizing sound of an orchestra tuning up turns into a rousing rendition of "O Canada," and the packed house, as a whole, rises to their feet, flexing our voices and our patriotism. It is a stunningly emotional moment that catches us off guard, primes us for the curtain rising, when a half dozen stunning dancers, draped in diamonds and swathed in vibrant billowing gowns whirl across the stage singing:
Give them what they want
Smooth and breezy
Exactly what they want
An escape from the ennui
Give them what they want
Nothing cheap or cheesy

It is exactly what we want on a hot summer's evening: tuneful witty songs, spectacular dance, comedy and romance. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a slick and delicious entertainment. We have been seduced as nimbly as the various women of means who lose their hearts, their fortunes and, only implied, their virtue, to con man Lawrence Jameson. Jonathan Goad (The Diviners, Cymbeline) plays Lawrence as a delightful DILF of a roué with just enough self-awareness of his vanity to be droll. Conning these women out of their cash and jewels is a glorious game, and an ego stroke, for him. Lawrence is assisted by Andre Thibault, Derek Kwan (Salesman in China, The Cave, Blood Weddings, Mr Shi and His Lover, A Synonym for Love), who initially appears to be a butler but is soon revealed to be an active partner in crime. With, as all the characters in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels have, a secret identity. Andre is concerned that Lawrence is aging out of his chosen profession and losing his touch. Especially because, as a newspaper announces in a nostalgic plot move, a new con man, 'The Jackal,' is arriving to ply his trade on the French Riviera.

On a train to Switzerland, to bank his ill-gotten gains, Lawrence meets a gawky but charming fellow con man, Liam Tobin (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Cannibal The Musical, Into the Woods) as Freddy Benson. In the best joke of the entire script, Freddy, an American lacking Lawrence's European savoir faire, relies not on seduction but on sympathy and pity to pull off his cons. The two meet cute mid-con, bicker and bluster (in dialogue and song) and set up a competition with the loser having to leave the rich hunting grounds of the Riviera. The prize? The fortune of Christine Colgate, "The American Soap Queen." Christine, Shakura Dickson (Trout Stanley, Girls Like That), is a giggly sweet and charmingly klutzy woman with a big beautiful voice. The game, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, is on, filled with cons upon cons and the assurance that there is no level too low for Lawrence and Freddy to stoop to.

Unless of course, love rears its ugly head. Or worse: developing a conscience. Lawrence and Freddy's budding bromance easily accommodates competition for Christine's abundant innocent charms. Tobin is tall and lanky, expertly executing pratfalls amid a total disregard for the concept of personal space or good taste. Though his primary function is comic, he has a powerful voice that leaps from buffoonery to belt with ease. He even gets to shed his bumbling persona for a brief sex symbol moment. In a comic cross dressing gag of course. He and Dickson make, excusing the ruthlessness, an adorable couple. But then so do Goad and Dickson. Not to mention the tragically unexplored possibilities of Goad and Tobin. When the two con men do team up, they are unbeatable. And utterly hilarious as they attempt to extricate Lawrence from the clutches of an oil heiress with gross-out hijinks. Not to worry, Michele Shuster (Into the Woods, Hairspray) is more than amply rewarded for her loss with a barn-burner of a number that almost stops the show.

Of course every rom-com, even when twisted and throupled, needs a pair of second bananas, a parallel romance. Sara-Jeanne Hosie (Peter Pan's Final Flight, Lil' Red Robin Hood, The Wizard of Oz, Falsettos) as the used and discarded Muriel Eubanks, rips off the roof with a hilarious and ribald torch song—
I never realized how long
My heart had been ignored
He sang my name and it rang out just like
Some major chord
If music be the food of love
He ate my Smorgasbord
—before succumbing, reluctantly, to the equally reticent Andre. Hosie and Kwan are a match made in comedy heaven and provide the sexual innuendo that the rest of the cast, except for Tobin, is coy about. Hosie has one great line that shatters the fourth wall, more successfully than other in-jokes that are simply gags. The entire show toys with titillation, offering risqué references but being careful not to frighten the grey hairs who make up the majority of the audience. It works beautifully, the laughs are loud and consistent. Director Tracey Flye (Kelly v Kelly, Peter's Final Flight, Lil' Red Robin Hood, The Wizard of Oz, A Christmas Carol) is aware we are aware we are there to be entertained, and the action moves quickly and frequently self-referentially so we can be satisfied in sniggering at the double entendres. And provides the saucy sight of Henry Firmston (Something Rotten!) and Devon Michael Brown (La Cage Aux Folles, Something Rotten!, Frankenstein Revived, Spamalot) stepping out of their stellar roles in the sensational chorus to portray a pair of swaggering sailors.

Jeffrey Lane's book hews closely to the film, and David Yazbek's music and lyrics are more than adequate to send us into the night humming. Thematically, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels toys with the ideas of aging disgracefully with Lawrence musing, "But now and then, you might recall the moments when you had it all. You had the charm, you had the talent and, my god, you had some fun." And Tobin's quandary can be construed as a moral lesson about struggling with a basic manic maliciousness. And fortunately the women, who we are encouraged to forget are being fleeced, do get their revenge in an uproarious feminist twist. However Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a trifle. Lawrence may play at being a prince but Dirty Rotten Scoundrels never pretends to be anything other than what it is, a very slick and entertaining night of theatre. Laughs, songs, lively dancing . . . who needs moralizing? As the catchiest number states
It was a trip, It was a ball, it was a thrill,
You had the grace, you had the skill
To know exactly what to say
And what to do
Or, as the opening number states with just a hint of cynicism
Give them what they want