Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Last night I had the honour of attending Southey Musical Theatre Company’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as a ‘critic’. I had a great night out. Southey did a great job of putting on this very funny musical and the audience clearly enjoyed themselves. The show had some amazing choreography from Mark Harris (Boogie Nights) and Carla Jane Wade (42nd Street, Our House), director Mark Feakins (The Pajama Game, Jekyll and Hyde) brought out every ounce of laughter from the show and there was a brilliant sounding band under the direction of Matthew Moore. The creatives had assembled a very strong cast!
There was a very strong ensemble, many of whom had their chances to shine in small featured roles. Rosie Choppin (Little Shop of Horrors) made the most of her short lived role Jolene Oakes. She was wonderfully over the top and bonkers! She also led some outstanding choreography in the song Oklahoma.
Joanne Ringrose (Jekyll and Hyde) played Muriel Eubanks perfectly. She had some wonderfully hilarious lines delivered very very well. She had a very believable chemistry with Mark Holmes (Oliver, Rock of Ages) as Andre. He was very well suited to his role and led his songs very well. Like Zis Like Zat was a particular musical highlight.
Martin Scattergood (Legally Blonde, Priscilla) showed off some beautiful vocals as Lawrence. He had the right amount of charm for the role and really nailed the characterisation. Gina Townend (Avenue Q, Made in Dagenham) was perfect in the role of Christine Colgate. Her vocals were stunning and she made for a wonderful stereotypically popular blonde American woman.
Stealing the show for me was Ben Bason as Freddy Benson. This was Ben’s musical theatre debut in Sheffield but you couldn’t tell at all! He could easily have come straight from the West End. He acted the role perfectly, blew the roof off with some killer vocals and had a gorgeous chemistry with Gina as Christine.
The show will slicken up over the run naturally. The show had an effective set even if some of it looked like it was about to topple straight over.
I would recommend this show to anyone wanting a fun night out and to laugh out loud a lot. It really is a funny show.

• Type: user
• Performance Date: 10/05/2017
• Star rating: 12345