Scoundrels in Strathmore

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Theatre Players presents the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels starting April 29 with the preview show at 7:30 p.m. followed by a matinee show May 3 (2 p.m.), and evening shows on April 30 and May 6-9 (7:30 p.m.) at the Hope Covenant Church.
The musical is about Lawrence, who has the great life on a Riviera. While he swindles ladies, a street-guy named Freddy comes into his life and causes havoc.
“Basically there is one very suave conman named Lawrence and his compatriot Andre who you find out very early on that they’re conartists and find somewhere in the Riviera finding all these wealthy women. They run into a less-suave, a less-polished conman who they end up getting into conflicts with,” said director Angela Reeves. “They become adversaries throughout the show and there are other characters that come into play.”
Reeves and her cast brainstormed ideas for musicals and this one seemed to work the best.
“We had a meeting and talked about different musicals that we’d like to do,” said Reeves. “We’ve done musicals in the past, but it’s been quite a few years since we’ve done one with this theatre group.”
She read the script and instantly was hooked on the type of music and plots it provided.
“The music I absolutely love, it’s very jazzy, somewhat Latin, like it’s just really good music as well it’s a really good plot,” said Reeves.
Marvin Gill, who will be starring as Lawrence, could not have been more excited to take on the main role.
“He’s had a very smooth sailing for the last 10 years, things have gone really smoothly. He’s made a lot money by swindling ladies and had a very good life on the Riviera and that’s when Freddy came into his life and all hell breaks loose and a lot of antics takes place,” said Gill of his character. “They’re trying to out duel each other to get the $50,000 from this lady and I just get to take advantage of Freddy all over the place.”
Gill admits that the most unique thing about his role is the accents.
“I have a German, English and at the end I have to have a Spanish accent, all part of my conning characters that I have developed,” said Gill. “The accents are crucial to make the role believable.”
Courtney Nelson, who will play Freddy Benson, feels very fortunate to be in a main role in his first musical.
“I love it, it’s my first musical since I was a kid,” said Nelson. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have lead roles in the past but it’s kind of branching out into unchartered territory for me, it’s exciting but nerve-wracking at the same time.”
He describes himself as the ‘rotten of the dirty rotten,’ as he makes a living as a bottom feeder and preys on his victims.
“He definitely excelled in his life at it, so my role is to be the underdog and try to be on top for once,” said Nelson on his character.
Tickets go on sale at the beginning of April and will be $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and students.