There are student productions and then there are Royal Conservative of Scotland student productions which this year include two collaborations with the American Music Theatre Project at North Western University, Chicago (A Mother’s Song and The Book of Names under the banner of Legacy) and a rare staging of Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek’s farcical musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The latter of which is as slick as Herr Flick’s Brylcreemed bonce. Unlike the accents which are intentionally iffy à la ‘Allo! ‘Allo!.
Based on the 1988 film of the same name starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin, director Dougie Irvine has marshalled his 16-strong troops with military precision. The scene changes as comical and tightly choreographed as the little-known but much-appreciated musical numbers which chart the mischievous schemings of the eponymous father and son scoundrels (wonderfully played by the debonair Derek Dishington and swaggering Jacob Bedford) as they compete to lure £50k from the seemingly unsuspecting Soap Queen (Sorrel Brown as a refined Mrs Overall, who doubles with Fiona Sherlock).
Cue farce, cue misunderstandings, cue saucy songs laced with wit, tongue twisters and double entendres including a showstopping turn by Beth Ann Stripling (doubling with Arjana Sanfilippo) as a man-eating oil heiress whose buxom chest is at odds with the flat plains of her beloved Oklahoma. And a cooky S&M double act played with glint-in-the-eye glee by Donny Krow and Nicole Visco (doubling with Helene Holman).
Overall, a perfectly cast and joyously played romp bolstered by an equally fine band under the musical direction of Audra Cramer and Chris Poon which unlike the title is as far from dirty and rotten as the presidential scoundrel is from the truth.
- REVIEW: Orphans @ Edinburgh King’s Theatre ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - 13th April 2022
- REVIEW: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie @ Edinburgh Festival Theatre ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - 30th March 2022
- REVIEW: Sheila’s Island @ Edinburgh King’s Theatre - 2nd March 2022