Give Me Great Big Stuff!!
For the last show of the Manchester season ( in my terms anyway), I went to see a show at Manchester's Opera House that I didn't know much about, but which had received great reviews in both New York and London. The show is called Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and this really is going to be a piece on why I enjoyed this show so much, and why you should find some time to buy some tickets for the UK Tour, wherever you happen to be living.
This show is based on a film that came out in 1988 starring Micheal Caine and Steve Martin, and was adapted into a musical by David Yazbeck - he's not massively well known, but also wrote the music for The Full Monty and the-fairly-short-lived Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. It opened on Broadway in 2005 starring John Lithgow, Norbert Leo-Butz and Sherie Rene Scott, receiving 11 Tony nominations (and a win for Leo-Butz); despite that success though, it only opened to the UK last year, starring Robert Lindsay and Rufus Hound. Though that production was also very criticlly acclaimed, it only got 2 Olivier nominations - should it have won more? Probably to be honest, certainly if it was as good/better than the touring production. I guess it was just the time it opened and other shows just happened to stick more in people's minds.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is about 2 competing con men targeting rich folks in the resort town of Beaumont Sur Mer in the French Riviera, who decide to place a bet on each other to see who can wangle $50,000 on rich America Christine Colgate first - AND HILARITY ENSUES!!!
I really do mean it this time as well, as this is one of the funniest shows I have seen recently, along with Spamalot and The Producers. The script was just brilliant - it was funny and rude, while giving the show a real suave and sophisticated feel to it - in fact, this is probably the most sophisticated show I have ever seen.
As for the performances, I think there's 3 I really have to mention to as such, though the entire team was pretty good. First of all, the two leads Micheal Pread as Laurence and Noel Sullivan (anyone a Hear'Say fan) as Freddy oozed charisma and childish charm (depending of course which character you're talking about). And secondly, I have to mention Mark Benton who plays Laurence's French assistant. I absolutely adore Mr Benton, from playing Chalky in Waterloo Road to when he was on Strictly - and this was not the first time I have seen him in a show, as I saw him play Edna the last time I went to see Hairspray. Anyway, he was hilarious!!! Like I said, he was playing a French guy, so of course he had to put on a French accent - it's not perfect of course (I've lived in France, I should know), but it's not meant to be. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is definitely a comedy, so it doesn't need to be taken too seriously. his accent combined with his comic timing was just brilliant - he was right on the ball from his first line to his last.
Songwise, the score is full of comedic gems, but I think I'm going to give gold stars to 4 of them. Firstly All About Ruprecht, secondly Oklahoma? which does that the piss out of a certain show; then there's Like Zis/Like Zat; and finally there's Love Is My Legs. I won't spoil the backstory of this lovely duet between Noel Sullivan's Freddy and Carley Stenson's Christine, but the whole idea is just brilliant if you know the context - it sounds to me like a song that could fit in with Spamalot! The thing that made this my favourite song though is that halfway through the performance, someone from the audience shouted "GO ON SON!!", in a thick Manchester accent of course - which of course made everyone laugh and poor Freddy to go "I'm trying!". You do sometimes get the odd nutter, but at least it fitted in well...?
I didn't know much about this show - only that it was about con men in France and that it was supposed to be good - it completely blew away my expectations. It does look like I'm just writing a love letter about this show, but to be honest I don't care, because I LOVED THIS SHOW!!!!
I went to see this show with my parents after a delicious 3 course meal at Carluccio's 2 minutes away from the theatre (also worth a try, they do amazing fresh Italian food), and they basically went with me from my suggestion - so I knew that if it turned out to be crap, I'd be blamed. Now, I very often go to the theatre with my parents: Anything Goes, Jesus Christ Superstar, Oklahoma! - let's put it this way, I see theatre more with them than with my friends or my boyfriend. That may make me sound really uncool right now but bear with me.
Seeing as they have seen so much with me, it was an amazement to hear my Mum say that the best was saved till last and that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was the best thing she has seen recently - by a LONG way!! They were both laughing all the way through and it was such a great sight to see. Making both my parents laugh like that alone makes me give the show a big thumbs up.
I'm not sure how much more I can say about this over than GO AND SEE IT!!!!! Trust me, you will not regret it!!
Like I said, I cannot see anything really in the Manchester area that pops out at me until the autumn, until there comes shows like Annie, Mack and Mabel,The Bodyguard and more leading into Christmas. So until then, I hope to go to London in the summer to catch one or two things there. Nothing is booked yet, but watch this space =)
This show is based on a film that came out in 1988 starring Micheal Caine and Steve Martin, and was adapted into a musical by David Yazbeck - he's not massively well known, but also wrote the music for The Full Monty and the-fairly-short-lived Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. It opened on Broadway in 2005 starring John Lithgow, Norbert Leo-Butz and Sherie Rene Scott, receiving 11 Tony nominations (and a win for Leo-Butz); despite that success though, it only opened to the UK last year, starring Robert Lindsay and Rufus Hound. Though that production was also very criticlly acclaimed, it only got 2 Olivier nominations - should it have won more? Probably to be honest, certainly if it was as good/better than the touring production. I guess it was just the time it opened and other shows just happened to stick more in people's minds.Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is about 2 competing con men targeting rich folks in the resort town of Beaumont Sur Mer in the French Riviera, who decide to place a bet on each other to see who can wangle $50,000 on rich America Christine Colgate first - AND HILARITY ENSUES!!!
I really do mean it this time as well, as this is one of the funniest shows I have seen recently, along with Spamalot and The Producers. The script was just brilliant - it was funny and rude, while giving the show a real suave and sophisticated feel to it - in fact, this is probably the most sophisticated show I have ever seen.
As for the performances, I think there's 3 I really have to mention to as such, though the entire team was pretty good. First of all, the two leads Micheal Pread as Laurence and Noel Sullivan (anyone a Hear'Say fan) as Freddy oozed charisma and childish charm (depending of course which character you're talking about). And secondly, I have to mention Mark Benton who plays Laurence's French assistant. I absolutely adore Mr Benton, from playing Chalky in Waterloo Road to when he was on Strictly - and this was not the first time I have seen him in a show, as I saw him play Edna the last time I went to see Hairspray. Anyway, he was hilarious!!! Like I said, he was playing a French guy, so of course he had to put on a French accent - it's not perfect of course (I've lived in France, I should know), but it's not meant to be. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is definitely a comedy, so it doesn't need to be taken too seriously. his accent combined with his comic timing was just brilliant - he was right on the ball from his first line to his last.Songwise, the score is full of comedic gems, but I think I'm going to give gold stars to 4 of them. Firstly All About Ruprecht, secondly Oklahoma? which does that the piss out of a certain show; then there's Like Zis/Like Zat; and finally there's Love Is My Legs. I won't spoil the backstory of this lovely duet between Noel Sullivan's Freddy and Carley Stenson's Christine, but the whole idea is just brilliant if you know the context - it sounds to me like a song that could fit in with Spamalot! The thing that made this my favourite song though is that halfway through the performance, someone from the audience shouted "GO ON SON!!", in a thick Manchester accent of course - which of course made everyone laugh and poor Freddy to go "I'm trying!". You do sometimes get the odd nutter, but at least it fitted in well...?
I didn't know much about this show - only that it was about con men in France and that it was supposed to be good - it completely blew away my expectations. It does look like I'm just writing a love letter about this show, but to be honest I don't care, because I LOVED THIS SHOW!!!!
I went to see this show with my parents after a delicious 3 course meal at Carluccio's 2 minutes away from the theatre (also worth a try, they do amazing fresh Italian food), and they basically went with me from my suggestion - so I knew that if it turned out to be crap, I'd be blamed. Now, I very often go to the theatre with my parents: Anything Goes, Jesus Christ Superstar, Oklahoma! - let's put it this way, I see theatre more with them than with my friends or my boyfriend. That may make me sound really uncool right now but bear with me.Seeing as they have seen so much with me, it was an amazement to hear my Mum say that the best was saved till last and that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was the best thing she has seen recently - by a LONG way!! They were both laughing all the way through and it was such a great sight to see. Making both my parents laugh like that alone makes me give the show a big thumbs up.
I'm not sure how much more I can say about this over than GO AND SEE IT!!!!! Trust me, you will not regret it!!
Like I said, I cannot see anything really in the Manchester area that pops out at me until the autumn, until there comes shows like Annie, Mack and Mabel,The Bodyguard and more leading into Christmas. So until then, I hope to go to London in the summer to catch one or two things there. Nothing is booked yet, but watch this space =)
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