DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS: 100% Bittersweet – UPDATED

Photo by Dana Wayne.

BITTERSWEET
The company was wise to enlist the direction of the award-winning local director Richard Israel who I think has set out to direct every musical that ever existed since he never stops working. He has successfully managed to translate the action into that small space. Casting was more problematic but then I saw a brilliant production. The Michael Caine role goes to Chip Phillips who has a certain amount of sophistication but lacks the stature need to pull off the role of this elegant con. His partner in crime, doing his best Leo Butz imitation, is Matt Wolpe. I suspect in time his performance will settle down. As it is, he is very uneven and his gags work only about 60% of the time. Nonetheless, the audience enjoyed themselves.
Robert Machray – Stagehappenings

SWEET
In this intimate-theater staging of that piece, the well-worn material remains amusing. The show boasts a jaunty score by David Yazbek (“The Full Monty”), but director Richard Israel’s rendition is more satisfying comedically than musically, due to the company’s uneven singing efforts. Nonetheless, the deftly played low-comedy shenanigans make for an entertaining couple of hours.
Les Spindle – Backstage

SWEET
Take a 1964 Marlon Brando-David Niven-Shirley Jones comedy (Bedtime Story), remake it in 1988 with a new title (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and an even funnier trio of leads (Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headley), turn it into a 2005 Broadway musical starring John Lithgow, Norman Leo Butz, and Sheri Rene Scott which scored eleven Tony nominations and one big win for Best Actor Butz, then assign director extraordinaire Richard Israel to downscale it to 99-seat dimensions and you’ve got Interact Theatre Company’s sensational L.A. Intimate Theater Premiere of the hit musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, just opened at the NoHo Arts Center.
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA

BITTERSWEET
A few amusing numbers show off the talents of Chip Phillips as the patter-singing, posh, older swindler and Matt Wolpe as the crude pop-singing young hustler. Their moments together bring instant life to the stage, even through the goofiest of comic bits. Director Richard Israel, who normally turns small theaters and ensembles into huge, polished productions, fares less well here. Most damaging to the production is that none of the supporting cast is sufficiently skilled at singing or dancing.
Tom Provenzano – LA Weekly