Take A Road Trip To Chatham For This Fun Mac-Haydn Musical

There are at least six good reasons to put the Mac-Haydn Theatre’s “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” on your must-see list.

The performances of Gabe Belyeu, Madison Stratton, Colin Pritchard, Judith Wyatt, Kelly Gabrielle Murphy and Steve Hassmer work together like a finely tuned orchestra to present an engaging, lively, funny and high-energy evening of music and dance.

With a deep bow to the direction of John Saunders, the choreography of Sebastiani Romagnolo and the musical direction of Jillian Zack, their imaginative work allows the talent assembled to be the entire focus of the evening.

The script by Jeffrey Lane — based on the 1988 feature film that starred Steve Martin and Michael Caine as two con men attempting to swindle an heiress — is buoyed by the music and lyrics of David Yazbek. The strong voices of the principal cast carry the evening, providing moments of humor and pathos that punctuate the double entendres, sight gags and flowing stage movement that keep the audience fully engaged.

Without belaboring the subplots that whipsaw across the Mac-Haydn stage, the tone for the evening is set with the first production number — “What They Want.” From the opening announcement of how this tale is going to unfold, Belyeu’s Lawrence Jameson leads the charge. He is joined by aspiring grafter, Freddy Benson, who is presented with elegant, gymnastic physical comedic expertise by Pritchard. Their love/hate relationship provides countless moments of welcome laughter.

Two of the ladies of the play — Wyatt as Muriel and Stratton as Christine Colgate — delight, charm, deceive, seduce and triumph in ways that are so refreshing that the audience is fooled into thinking they are the innocent victims.

The other two principals deserve more than a polite round of applause. The musical wouldn’t work without them. Hassmer — a Mac-Haydn veteran — presents Andre Thibault with the refreshing overtones of Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault in “Casablanca.”

Murphy adds the touch of brash, boisterous Oklahoma to Act 1 that anchors a tour de force as Jameson is extricated from a dreaded trip down the aisle and exiled matrimony on the great American plains.

A visit with “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” is worth the drive to Chatham, N.Y. The resultant smiles, chuckles and laughs will more than compensate for the mileage.

“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” runs at The Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, N.Y., through June 18. For tickets and information, go to www.machaydntheatre.org or call 518-392-9292.