Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Will Con America on National Tour, Starting September 2006

By Kenneth Jones
10 May 2005

Freshly bejeweled with 11 Tony Award nominations, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels will be launched on a national tour in September 2006, lead producer Marty Bell told Playbill.com.

Director and choreographer Jack O'Brien and Jerry Mitchell (both nommed for their work) have set aside weeks in summer 2006 to put together the tour, which will premiere Labor Day week in a city to be named, Bell said. News of casting, of course, is premature at this time, but you can bet fans will be creating a list of hoped-for actors to play the bigger-than-life title characters.

Bell confirmed May 10 he is also in discussions with producers in Japan, London and Europe for worldwide expansion of property. (Imagine the French Riviera-set show sung in French. How does the song "Like Zis/Like Zat" translate?)

The musical's source material, the Hollywood picture of the same name, already has an international reputation. A cast album was released commercially May 10 on the Ghostlight Records label.

The 2005 Tony nominations for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels also include Best Musical, Best Leading Actor (Musical) for both Norbert Leo Butz and John Lithgow, Best Leading Actress (Musical) for Sherie Rene Scott, Best Featured Actress (Musical) for Joanna Gleason, Best Score (for composer-lyricist David Yazbek), Best Book of a Musical (Jeffrey Lane), Best Lighting Design (Kenneth Posner), Best Orchestrations (Harold Wheeler).

Performances continue at the Imperial Theatre. The 2005 Tony Awards ceremony will be broadcast on CBS on June 5, from Radio City Music Hall.