DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

Confirmed: Tony Sheldon returns from NYC for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

22nd July, 2013 | Written by: Erin James

 

He has starred on Broadway, his portrait adorns the walls of iconic Sardi's Restaurant in Times Square, he was nominated for a Tony Award and now he’s returning home — for a limited season!
Multi award winning performer Tony Sheldon will be heading home this year to lead the cast of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Sydney’s Theatre Royal.
Set to premiere on October 24, this production will mark Sheldon’s first Australian musical theatre appearance since his he wowed audiences as Bernadette in the original Australian production of Priscilla The Musical — a role which took him to the West End, Toronto and Broadway and earned him (among many others) a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.
Sheldon has been cast as the dirty, rotten, suave con-man Lawrence Jameson who believes in tricking corrupt, rich people out of their money to finance his lavish lifestyle. He will be joined onstage each night by Amy Lehpamer (Rock of Ages, Margaret Fulton: Queen of the Dessert) as the naive and wealthy American heiress Christine Colgate, theatre veteran John Wood as Lawrence’s “bodyguard” Andre Thibault and Matt Hetherington who will returning to his Green Room Award winning role (The Production Company 2010) of American hustler Freddy Benson.
Musical theatre favourites Anne Wood (Mamma Mia!, The Sound of Music) and Katrina Retallick (The Addams Family, A Little Night Music) are also joining the company as Muriel Eubanks and Jolene Oakes.
Directed by Roger Hodgman, musically directed by Guy Simpson, choreographed by Dana Jolly and produced by James Anthony Productions, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is set to play a limited season at the Theatre Royal.
Producers Stephen Doorey and George Youakim from James Anthony Productions are thrilled with the calibre of the cast for their debut production, which was officially launched this evening at the Theatre Royal.
“We loved the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels the first time we heard the music and we knew that we had to produce this musical in Sydney”, they said.
“To have assembled this sensational principal cast is the icing on the cake. We know that Sydney is going to fall in love with our mischievous scoundrels.”
The plot of the musical is based on the highly successful and much loved 1988 film starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine. With music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Jeffrey Lane, the show centres around the Sheldon and Hetherington’s characters, Lawrence Jameson and Freddy Benson.
Auditions for ensemble roles in the show will take at the end of the month. Tickets on sale from Monday July 29.

Visit www.dirtyrottenscoundrels.com.au for more information! 

CT Theatre News

"Dolly" a Delight

"Hello, Dolly!" -- Goodspeed Opera House -- Extended thru Sept.14

Klea Blackhurst and the cast of "Hello, Dolly!" Photo by Diane Sobolewski

Goodspeed Opera House is known internationally for its ability to produce “big” shows in a relatively confined space, and this skill is manifest in its current production of “Hello, Dolly!” a rollicking, fast-paced presentation of one of America’s classic musical comedies. As my play-going partner put it after seeing the show on Saturday, “The audience walked out of ‘Hello, Dolly!’ with a skip in their step.”

Much of that “skip” is there because director Daniel Goldstein is obviously intent on “working” the audience whenever he can, hence, in the opening number, Dolly Gallagher Levi (Klea Blackhurst) makes her first appearance not on stage but in one of the aisles, handing out business cards. The space is also used late in the first act to make the “Parade Passes By”number seem bigger than it really is.

“Bigger than it really is” might be the operative phrase for the entire production, for, along with Goldstein, scenic designer Adrian W. Jones, lighting designer Jason Lyons and choreographer Kelli Barclay have accepted the stage’s limitations and done everything possible to overcome them.

Ashley Brown. Photo by Diane Sobolewski

One of the biggest challenges in producing “Hello, Dolly!”is the “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” number, which starts in a feed and grain store in Yonkers and ends up, via a train ride, in New York City. As the number began, I was wondering just how they were going to pull it off. Well, I needn’t have worried, for Jones turns the store’s shelving into railroad car seats, Lyons gives us running lights projected onto a rear scrim and Barclay has the cast members swaying and bouncing. In essence, it works beautifully.

Then there’s the “Waiters’ Galop” number, which is a lead-in to the show’s signature “Hello, Dolly,” when the meddling matchmaker makes her triumphant return to the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant. Again, the question arose in my mind – how are they going to give this number the “bigness” it requires? Once again, no worries. Using every foot of stage available and a stairway set stage center, Barclay works some magic, making you believe that the dancers are moving through space twice as large as they really are. Trays, food and dishes fly and napkins and aprons wave and flutter in a bravura sequence worthy of comparison to that of any of the show’s Broadway productions.

Tony Sheldon and Klea Blackhurst. Photo by Diane Sobolewski.

Goldstein, Jones and Barclay were also obviously committed to keeping this show moving, and it does. Scene changes take mere moments and the cast members seem to appear here, there and everywhere, often in different costumes, as if they have been transported, which means that backstage, where space is also limited, there has to be a feeling of controlled chaos.

As for the performances themselves, there’s little more you can ask for. Blackhurst creates a Dolly that’s all her own, yet with just than a touch of Merman and a pinch of Middler thrown in for good measure. That Dolly is as delightfully manipulative as she is owes a lot to the show’s Horace Vandergelder, Tony Sheldon (on his first appearance you quickly check your program to see if, perhaps, Goodspeed has somehow gotten Christopher Plummer to play the role). Sheldon is a master of the slow burn, the double-take and the startled shuffle, all of which he employs to great effect.

In support, there’s Ashley Brown as Irene Malloy, an actress who lights up the stage with her eyes and her smile, and Vandergelder’s two clerks, Spencer Moses as Cornelius Hackl and Jeremy Morse as Barnaby Tucker, who are both engagingly naïve.

However, the show is Blackhurst’s to own, and she does, no more so than in the lead-in to the courtroom scene when she is able to get extended laughs by disregarding all others on stage as she blithely devours an ear of corn…and then some dumplings. The moment is priceless.

Goodspeed’s “Hello, Dolly!” is the perfect show to make you forget about the oppressive heat and humidity. It’s light, frothy and a whole lot of fun.

A Parade in Town

Our weekly grocery shopping trip to Deep River was thrown into chaos this morning because we found ourselves in the middle of a parade. We don't know what it was for or why, but everyone was very serious about it. The audience seemed largely made up of drunk (at 10.30 a.m.) shirtless young men with mohawks and tattoos so I can only imagine what everyone was like as the day wore on.

Here is a video taste of the excitement

Ah, America the beautiful!

Richard Skipper Celebrates DOLLY at Goodspeed

Goodspeed saw the light of Dolly by casting Klea Blackhurst, who told me in a previous interview that she had auditioned for various productions of Dolly over the years, but never made the grade. Timing is everything. With her being cast as Dolly Levi and Tony Sheldon being cast as Horace Vandergelder, along with Daniel Goldstein’s brilliant swift direction and Kelli Barclay’s exuberant chorography with the perfect nods to Gower Champion, and a superb supporting cast and chorus, along with the Goodpeed stamp of excellence, and you have the PERFECT Hello, Dolly!

Half way during the show, through tear stained eyes, all I could think of is how much I desire Carol Channing and Jerry Herman to see this production.

Gower has to be smiling down on this production. The Goodspeed Opera House has a small stage but thanks to scenic design of Adrian W. Jones, the space is utilized for maximum effect.

The backdrop, as people come into the theater, is a large sepia photo of the 14^th Street Parade.

With the opening strains of the “overture”, the sound is as lush as the original production's Philip Lang and Peter Howard intended it to be.

(Courtesy: Goodspeed Opera House)

As the curtain/photograph rises, we see a chorus of New York natives in muted colors to match the sepia tones of the photograph in gorgeous costumes designed by Wade Laboissonniere as they instruct us to Call on Dolly for whatever needs may arise, especially in the matchmaking department. When Dolly enters, she is in a brighter orange and each of her costumes throughout match her personality.

One aspect that I have always loved with Thornton Wilder’s original The Matchmaker, which Michael Stewart carried over, is the breaking of the “fourth wall”. Goldstein’s direction extends that a little further. Dolly/Klea makes her entrance from the back of the house a la Merman in Gypsy.
As she dispenses her cards to members of the audience at the top of the show, she immediately puts us under her spell.

Klea exudes a warmth that is as if she is welcoming each and everyone as if we are old friends or ones that are about to become fast ones. These opening moments set the tone for the entire evening and makes her later descent down the stairs in Act Two absolutely believable.

Speaking of that moment, there is a playfulness that I have not seen with other Dollys since Channing.

I also have to say that the eating scene is the best that I've seen since Channing's. Klea hits a bull's eye with every laugh and, boy, that voice!

Tony Sheldon’s Horace Vandergelder is the most loveable Horace I have ever seen on stage. The

Klea and Tony in rehearsal (Courtesy: Tony Sheldon)

curmudgeon is there in all aspects of what Horace is, but you can see a loveable flirtatious underlying layer of warmth as well.

Ashley Brown, known mainly to New York audiences as Mary Poppins, is a infectious Irene Molloy. She hits all the right marks.

Spencer Moses as Cornelius Hackl harkens back to Charles Nelson Reilly as far as a comedic Cornelius is concerned.

He reminds me of Ray Bolger.Jeremy Morse as Barnaby Tucker was the perfect sidekick.

Catherine Blades is the cutest Minnie Fay this side of the original, Sondra Lee.
Regarding the afore mentioned Waiters Gallop, WOW! WOW!! WOW!!!

It builds and builds and builds to the climax of Dolly’s entrance and return to the human race at the Harmonia Gardens.

The Waiter’s Gallop is solely a Gower Champion creation. Any production of Dolly that does not take advantage of that knowledge should simply check their hats at the door. THIS Waiter’s Gallop stopped the show like none other I’ve seen. The sustained applause at the end of this segment was the longest sustained

with Melodie Wofford

applause I have heard in the theater in a long time. It was also great to see my old friend Melodie Wofford.
She lights up the stage each time she appears with a smile to rival Channing’s.

The music soars in this production. I truly wish they would record it.
Klea’s clarion voice is a marvel.

I also want to give a nod to casting directors Stuart Howard and Paul Hardt. Every person is perfectly cast. Share in the feel-good zest of the song-and-dance fun… a tremendous generosity of spirit… this whips through the theatre like a summer breeze.

This production is sponsored by Bank of America, Comcast, The Shops of Mohegan Sun, and Essex Meadows.
This production has HIT written all over it!

Thank you to EVERYONE involved in this production for the gifts you have given to the world and continue to give!

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!

Downton Dolly

WMNR Fine Arts Radio

Theater Review - Hello Dolly (CT)

Fresh from Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, this is Garrett Stack on The Theatre Circuit.

All I can say is Wow, Wow, Wow, fellas – and ladies of course. What a triumphant way to celebrate 50 years of bringing professional musical theater to Connecticut. Goodspeed’s jewel in the crown for this golden jubilee is Hello, Dolly!

Hello, Dolly! needs no explanation so let’s get right into the Goodspeed production . Let me use words like flawless, thrilling, surprising, hilarious, beautiful, entertaining and oh yeah, musical.

Take a perfect musical, thank you Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart, assemble a dream cast, thank you director Daniel Goldstein, and you’ve the potential to mount a show that audiences and critics will rave about. But potential is not enough. It all has to gel and become whole. That means everyone in the 20-member cast, the 8-piece orchestra, and the dozens of behind the scenes creatives, techs, dressers and managers have to do their part and give the show 100%. Well, they all did.

Klea Blackhurst, known for her cabaret and stage performances, lights up the stage with her first entrance as Dolly Levi at the top of the show as she sings about meddling in other people’s affairs to earn a living in I Put My Hand In. You know you’re in for a treat with Klea as Dolly. Her voice is distinctive and powerful. And, her comic instincts shine. The famous eating scene is hilarious as Klea Blackhurst gives a nod to local farms by devouring fresh corn on the cob in perfect typewriter style. But that’s just the beginning.

Enter Australian actor Tony Sheldon, nominated for a Tony for his role in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and you’ve got the perfect Horace Vandergelder who struts about and sings, and acts with just the right amount of arrogance – suited for the role. This handsome Horace, despite all his protestations ends up no match for Dolly’s crafty scheming.

Barnaby and Cornelius, played here by Jeremy Morse and Spencer Moses bring comedy to a new level in several instances especially as they prepare to blow up tomato cans and put on their Sunday clothes. And then when things are humming along famously, enter Ashley Brown – another Tony-nominee for her role as everyone’s favorite nanny, Mary Poppins. She plays Irene Malloy, owner of a millenary shop and soon to fall in love with Cornelius. Her reading of Ribbons Down My Back is exceptional as she dreams of what life will be like this summer.

The iconic Harmonia Gardens Restaurant scene, where Dolly returns after a long absence and is worshiped by a group of handsome waiters singing the title song, is the showstopper it deserves to be. Staircase, red dress, waiters in tux shirts, bow ties and vests – it’s musical comedy at its best.

I wish I had the time to give all the cast and the thousands of details the notice they deserve. But let me comment on the brilliant sets by Adrian Jones who was able to create the illusion of this really big place on this really small stage that was beautifully lit by Jason Lyons. Costumes? Well the gay 90’s in New York with bustles and buckles and big hats and shoes. It’s all there thanks to Wade Laboissonniere.

The orchestra sounded like way bigger than it actually was and the sound balance between cast and pit was perfect. Such a pleasure when it’s done right.

The Goodspeed Opera House experience is most often magical, but this Hello, Dolly! is absolutely enthralling - every scene, every moment.

Before this parade indeed passes by, get tickets for the Goodspeed Opera House 50^th anniversary production of Hello, Dolly! Dolly will be in East Haddam, Connecticut all summer, through September 14.

On the Theatre Circuit for WMNR, I’m Garrett Stack.

Happy 80th Birthday Mimi Hines!

http://broadwayworld.com/videoplay.php?colid=539100

Click the link above to be inspired. Mimi Hines has long been one of our faves and we're very disappointed we couldn't be in NYC to see her birthday concert at 54 Below but here's a tantalising taste. Watch the whole video!
Mimi replaced Barbra Streisand in FUNNY GIRL on Broadway with great success, and below is a recording made at the time of one of the show's best numbers.