Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a
Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by
David Yazbek and a book by
Jeffrey Lane; it is based on the
film of the same name.
John Lithgow,
Norbert Leo Butz, and
Sherie Rene Scott played the lead roles at opening, with
Joanna Gleason and
Gregory Jbara also receiving above-the-title billing. The show premiered in
San Diego, California on
September 22,
2004, before moving to Broadway in January
2005 and officially opening in March at the
Imperial Theatre. The show closed on Broadway on
September 3,
2006 with a total of
666 performances. The
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Original Broadway Cast Recording CD was recorded on
March 14,
2005 at Right Track Studio in
New York City and was released on
May 10,
2005 by Ghostlight Records (an imprint of
Sh-K-Boom Records).
A
North American national
Equity tour launched on
August 4,
2006 with
Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz reprising his role as Freddy, alongside
Tom Hewitt as Lawrence. The Equity tour wrapped on
August 19, 2007. The 25-city non-Equity tour of the show, with Jamie Jackson as Lawrence and Doug Thompson as Freddy, debuted
September 25, 2007 in
Dayton, Ohio, with its final performance on
March 23, 2008, in
Memphis, Tennessee.
[Dirty Rotten Scoundrels On Tour] International productions have opened in
Tokyo,
Mexico City,
Madrid,
Stuttgart,
Seoul,
Oslo,
Stockholm,
Tampere and productions are planned for
Copenhagen,
Reykjavik, and
London.
[playbill article, Sept. 3, 2006, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Ends Its Broadway Streak Sept. 3; Tour Is Hot] The collegiate premiere of the musical was produced by the
University of Arkansas in April, 2009.
Plot
Act 1
The musical opens at a Casino near the French Riviera showing a con-artist, Lawrence Jameson, tricking wealthy women out of their money with his “bodyguard” Andre (Give Them What They Want). Andre warns Lawrence that a con-artist, known as “the Jackal”, is in the area. In a side story, one woman named Muriel (as well as other women) realizes that Lawrence is not who he says he is(What Was a Woman To Do). While on a train, Lawrence watches an American named Freddy Benson swindle money out of a woman (although at much smaller amounts). Lawrence ends up bringing Freddy to his lavish mansion, where Freddy envies how Lawrence has made a living out of swindling. Then he talks of all the things he wants when he’s rich (Great Big Stuff). Freddy asks Lawrence to “show
[1] his ways.” Andre thinks Freddie is unworthy of Lawrence's attention, and compares Freddie to a "Chimp in a Suit". Lawrence doesn’t think much of it until Jolene Oakes, one of the women he is with, tells him that they are unexpectedly getting married and moving to Oklahoma (Oklahoma?), at which point Lawrence decides to use Freddy’s help. Freddy poses as Lawrence’s mentally challenged brother Ruprecht (All About Ruprecht). When Jolene is introduced to him she calls off the wedding and breaks up with Lawrence.
