Dirty Rotten Scoundrels cons its way into Hartford!

HARTFORD , CT – May 18, 2007 - The National Tour of the scamming, scheming, double-crossing hit Broadway musical, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, is coming to Hartford at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts from June 5 – 10, 2007 .   Tony-nominated actor TOM HEWITT (Rocky Horror Show) plays suave and sophisticated con man Lawrence Jameson. He is joined on stage by D.B. BONDS, who plays Freddy Benson, the brash and vulgar swindler Lawrence takes under his wing.

Tickets for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting The Bushnell Box Office at 166 Capitol Avenue in Hartford or by calling (860) 987-5900.  Tickets may also be purchased online at www.bushnell.org.  Groups of 20 or more should call (860) 987-5959.  The engagement is part of the Lincoln Financial Broadway Series.

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS reunites David Yazbek (music and lyrics) with Tony Award winners Jack O’Brien (direction) and Jerry Mitchell (choreography), the Tony-nominated team behind The Full Monty. The raucous new musical comedy show features a book by Jeffrey Lane that keeps audiences laughing, humming and guessing to the very end.

Based on the popular 1988 MGM film, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELScenters on two con men living on the French Riviera – the suave and sophisticated Lawrence Jameson, who makes his lavish living by talking rich ladies out of their money; and a small-time crook named Freddy Benson, who, more humbly, swindles women by waking their compassion with fabricated stories about his grandmother’s failing health.  After meeting on a train, they unsuccessfully attempt to work together only to find that this small French town isn’t big enough for the two of them. So they make a bet: the first one to swindle $50,000 from a young heiress, triumphs and the other must leave town. What follows are a series of schemes, masquerades and double-crosses in which nothing may ever be exactly what it seems.

TOM HEWITT (Lawrence Jameson) has appeared on Broadway as the title role in Dracula, The Musical, as Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show (for which he was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk awards), and as Scar in The Lion King. Other Broadway credits include The Boys from Syracuse , School for Scandal, and The Sisters Rosenzweig. He has toured as Officer Lockstock in the National Tour of Urinetown. His Off-Broadway credits include Jeffrey, Beau Jest (Outer Critics nomination), Richard III, and Othello. Recent Regional Credits include Private Lives and Travesties at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven (CT Critics Circle Award), Compleat Female Stage Beauty at the Old Globe, Captain Hook in Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby at Casa Manana, Zhivago and Dracula, The Musical at the LaJolla Playhouse, Uncle Vanya at the Arena Stage, Racing Demon and Blithe Spirit at the Guthrie, and Antony and Cleopatra at the Shakespeare Theater. His television and film credits include roles on “Law and Order,” “Third Watch,” “Frasier,” “The George Carlin Show,” narration for The Discovery Channel, and Julie Taymor’s Fool’s Fire. Tom is a native of Montana .

D.B. BONDS (Freddy Benson) has appeared on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables. His Off-Broadway credits include The Last Five Years (as a standby to Norbert Leo Butz) and The Ark.   Bonds has appeared in the National Tours of The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables, and his favorite regional credits include Urinetown (Bobby Strong), john and jen (John) and Pippin (title role). 

Other casting includes Laura Marie Duncan as “American Soap Queen” Christine Colgate; Hollis Resnik as Muriel Eubanks; Drew McVety as Andre; and Jenifer Foote as Jolene. The ensemble includes Todd Anderson, Tim Craskey, Jeremy Davis, Emilee Dupre, Christopher DeAngelis, Ashley Blair Fitzgerald, Christopher Freeman, Brenda Hamilton, Derric Harris, Natalie Nucci, Jim Osorno, Jennifer Rias, Tally Sessions, Kim Shriver, Nicole Van Giesen and Christian Whelan.

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELSopened on Broadway in March 2005 to rave reviews.  The New York Times’ Ben Brantley called it, “The most eagerly awaited new musical of the season.”  Clive Barnes (New York Post) raved, “A knockout punch to Broadway’s funnybone! One of the liveliest, funniest, best-performed musicals in years.  Super-smart and superior in every way.”  And Terry Teachout (The Wall Street Journal) proclaimed, “I know funny when I see it, and this show is a perfect hoot!  A big hit.” DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS was awarded 11 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical. The musical had its world premiere at San Diego ’s Old Globe Theatre in September 2004.

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS features the music and lyrics of David Yazbek (The Full Monty) with direction by Jack O’Brien (Hairspray, The Full Monty, Damn Yankees), choreography by Jerry Mitchell (La Cage aux Folles, Hairspray, The Full Monty, Gypsy), and a book by Jeffrey Lane.  The design team includes David Rockwell (sets), Gregg Barnes (costumes), Kenneth Posner (lighting) and Acme Sound Partners (sound).  Ted Sperling serves as musical director and the orchestrations are by Harold Wheeler.

The DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS National Tour is produced by The Dirty Rotten Producers in association with MGM ON STAGE. The executive producers are Marty Bell and Aldo Scrofani.

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About The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts

The Bushnell is Connecticut ’s premier performing arts center, hosting more than 350 events yearly, including major Broadway tours, symphony orchestras, family presentations, lo cal arts and community events. The Bushnell is home to two theaters – the historic 2,800-seat Mortensen Hall, and the 907-seat Belding Theater, a state-of-the-art performances hall that opened in 2001. The Bushnell’s nationally-recognized arts-in-education program, PARTNERS (Partners in Arts and Education Revitalizing Schools ), now in its 14^th year, is a cross-community educational effort serving 22 schools in 12 districts throughout the Greater Hartford area. The Bushnell opened in January 1930 and is a non-profit organization. For more information, call The Bushnell at (860) 987-6000, The Bushnell Box Office at (860) 987-5900 or visit our website at www.bushnell.org .

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