Review: Mainstage ILC’s ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ struggles with its art of the con
The cast of MainStage ILC’s ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.’ (Photo by Mike Morgan Photography) For a con to work, the players have to be as smooth as silk and also rise above challenges to get what they are after.
At Sunday’s matinee of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels by MainStage ILC, the show didn’t quite get its own con game off the ground. While a solid production, the show suffered through a sluggish run and low-energy audience.
Scoundrels is theater candy written for laughs by Jeffrey Lane with music and lyrics by David Yazbeck. Based on the 1998 film of the same name, nothing about the show declares itself to be more than a good time.
Thus, the show should be an easy sell. For this performance, the production, directed by Dennis Canright, never seemed to lift off from its opening number “Give Them What They Want” and then kept an even keel to the end.
