Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

1	Overture 1:44
2	Give Them What They Want 3:13
3	What Was a Woman to Do 3:14
4	Great Big Stuff 4:02
5	Chimp in a Suit 1:52
6	Oklahoma? 2:22
7	All About Ruprecht 3:51
8	Here I Am 2:44
9	Nothing Is Too Wonderful to Be True 3:27
10	The Miracle 2:33
11	Rüffhousin' Mit Shüffhausen 4:48
12	Like Zis/Like Zat 3:21
13	The More We Dance 4:39
14	Love Is My Legs 3:34
15	Like Sneaks In 2:16
16	Som of Great Big Stuff 1:43
17	A Message from John Lithgow 0:38
18	The Reckoning 1:42
19	Dirty Rotten Number 3:04
20	Finale 1:31
21	Here I Am Bonus Track / Original Rough Demo 3:20
22	All About Reprecht Bonus Track / Original Rough Demo 4:33
23	Nothing Is Too Wonderful to Be True Bonus Track 4:24

Barnes & Noble

Based on the 1988 film, the musical-comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is the work of composer David Yazbek, the bright talent behind The Full Monty. It's been honored with eleven 2005 Tony nominations including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and Best Orchestrations. The original cast recording is guaranteed steal your heart.

All Music Guide

For years, Hollywood made a habit out of turning Broadway musicals into films, so it probably shouldn't be too surprising that the tables have turned: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a 1988 feature, became a Broadway musical in 2004. Like the movie, the musical follows the exploits of two con men, one smooth and debonair, John Lithgow, and the other, Norbert Leo Butz, simply small potatoes. Of course, since it's a musical now, a soundtrack had to be added, and David Yazbek wrote both the melodies and the lyrics. Ghostlight's original Broadway cast recording features both Lithgow and Butz along with Sherie René Scott, Joanna Gleason, Gregory Jbara, and a number of others singing lots of bouncy bright show tunes. In a way, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' music and lyrics ("Give Them What They Want" and "Great Big Stuff"), save for a few four-letter words here and there, seems very traditional. Yazbek enjoys wordplay and puns, reminding one a bit of Cole Porter, and has a knack for writing tuneful, memorable melodies like the other purveyors of the classic songbook. Even the music itself on songs like "Here I Am," filled with piano, brass, and the vocal backing of the ensemble, qualifies as a bit old-fashioned. While these aspects might not please the avant-garde, this approach, along with good performances by all involved, are real crowd-pleasers, and make Dirty Rotten Scoundrels easy to listen to over and over. Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.