So, the little French boy took us, along with our cellist friend to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. We all enjoyed it, but I think we would have even liked it better if we could hear more of the lyrics. The mix wasn't good and the band frequently drowned out the singers. We had good seats, 5th row loge, in our spectacular movie palace, The Fox Theatre. (This was one of the very few historic buildings that Atlanta has managed to save--- a real treasure.)
The character of Lawrence (the Michael Caine role in the movie) was played to the hilt by Tom Hewitt, who played Officer Lockstock in the touring company of "Urinetown". He was perfect for the role.
Freddy was a little over the top---if he didn't sing to the balcony, his physical humor certainly made it to the back row, which is probably what the role requires.
The dancers were beautiful, the costumes sublime, the set magical, but at the same time I found myself viewing this show from a slightly altered point of view, after spending time here in Hainesworld.
I found myself evaulating the buttons, and thinking about what a showy show it was, but how much more I would have enjoyed it if I could hear some of the obviously witty rhymes and dialogue. All these actors had body mics. The womens' voices cut through the accompaniment a little better than the mens'.
The show seemed a little long. At intermission, we felt like we had seen most of the story and were trying to remember what was left, plot-wise. Greg had never seen the original movie, so we couldn't talk too much about what the ending might hold.
The play seemed to follow the film pretty closely in the first half, but in the second, there was a new storyline added with the secondary characters. Arthur the butler was merged with the Inspector for the sake of simplicity. (For some reason, I was thinking that the inspector in the movie was played by Jean Reno, but now I think I'm confusing it with a similar role he must hav eplayed in another movie.)
We all seemed to enjoy the second act even more than the first, even though I felt that the subplot slowed things down a bit and the whole show seemed to have one too many endings. But still, a great night at the theatre.
Afterwards, the cellist and I went down to the pit to see who we knew in the orchestra. They were local musicians but they played the music so well that you'd think they had been touring with the show, too. We had friends among the musicians, (some used to play in the orchestra I worked for for years) including the percussionist, who played at our wedding with his steel drum band.
I will say that being in the HHW group for even a short time really enhanced my appreciation of this show and the work involved in creating it. Thanks to everyone who shares their stories here!
(Forgive my typos, I'm typing one-handed while being buried by a large and oppresive cat.)
And now, SPOILER ALERT:
I remember the original movie that DRS was based on: "Bedtime Story" with Brando and Niven. But I didn't remember the soap queen one-upping them in the end. Was this an 80's invention? I couldn't remember how the original ended.
