photo by Joan Marcus

"Give Them What They Want" opens this outrageously funny show and I guarantee theatergoers will want to see these Scoundrels well past the Tony's season.

The first vampy notes of David Yazbek's cheeky score set the tone of an old fashioned musical romp as Andre, the Police Chief in this Monaco-like resort town, helps con man, Laurence, pocket loot from the more than willing rich women who want to help the "Prance" (French for Prince), who crows jubilantly "What they want...is Me ...let's go get them". And who can blame them? John Lithgow, as the aging con man, is lithe and lean, exquisitely couture-d by costumer Gregg Barnes, the epitome of elegance with just a touch of maniacal zeal.

His "victims", led by bored heiress Muriel (Johanna Gleason) amiably respond, "What Was A Woman to Do...(if music be the food of love, he ate my smorgasbord)?"

Enter Freddy, a penny ante grifter who ultimately gives Laurence a shot of youth, energy and fun – just what he needs. In perfect visual contrast Norbert Leo Butz is short, chubby, schlumpy, and totally classless. Butz bravely bounds into bawdy humor as exhibited in his first number, "Great Big Stuff...(I'm tired of being a chump, I wanna be like Trump, two hundred pounds of caviar in one gigantic lump...a life of taste and class, with culture and sophistication crawling up my ass)", whose dream is "I just want someone to love me...for my money".

When he can't get rid of Freddy, described by Andre as "A Chimp in a Suit" ( a ground breaking number in which Butz lets loose all his animal instincts), Laurence uses him as his mentally challenged, libidinous brother to get out of potential matrimony with an aggressive Oklahoman (vivacious Sara Gettelfinger). Deciding the town is not big enough for both of them, they make a bet, the first who bilks the latest arriving rich girl, Soap Queen Christine (Sherie Rene Scott) out of $50,000 stays, the other leaves.

Much as you love this deranged duo and are and caught up in their schemes you laugh delightedly when they are out foxed by their victim. There are a series of faux endings until the big pay off – the ultimate con. Mind boggling twists and turns as they play to win will leave you rewinding for hours after you leave the theater, but happily so.

(In a surprise addition to an already complex plot, the affair between Andre, the sleekly suave Greg Jbara and Muriel, Johanna Gleason, who seems to get younger with each show, would seem extraneous but no one can deny their amiability and delightfully unique courtship for pure entertainment value.)

What ensues is testimony to the creativity of book writer Jeffrey Lane (based on the hilarious Laune/Shapiro/Henning movie which starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin), and the remarkable versatility of composer/lyricist David Yazbek, whose score is an immediately accessible eclectic blend of old fashioned show tunes pumped up with contemporary treatment. Tailoring each song to the persona of its character there is something for every taste from R& R, Country & Western "gutbucket", Bavarian beer hall waltzes, Latin, even gospel which is why Yazbek may be the Broadway Musical's savior. Coming from the world of Pop, TV and Film he lends modern savvy while respecting the genre which almost won him a Tony for his first Broadway musical, The Full Monty. His lyrics combine high brow references with low brow humor (melanoma/Oklahoma, DNA/ bichon frise, castle/asshole) often presenting reasonable lyrics first and adding more with constantly descending morality. Yaz bek never surrenders to the predictable. Even the love song the surprisingly smitten Laurence sings about Christine is more cynical than schmoltzy: "the mark is now the mock, ...when you leave yourself amuck, you're starry, you're stuck, for love snuck in on you" (at least he didn't go for the next obvious rhyme here). He even worked in a reference to film's original star, David Niven in the opening number.

Legendary Broadway orchestrator Harold Wheeler, although firmly entrenched in the respectable and revered past of musical theater, has jumped generations with his snappy modern arrangements. Yazbek himself combined with conductor/music director Ted Sperling for the vocal arrangements. Veteran designer Kenneth Posner keeps the show brilliantly lit but Acme Sound once again almost obliterates the show's clever lyrics (along with Wheeler's constant "hot" musical underpinnings).

Noted architect David Rockwell's art deco/cartoon-y sets are in keeping with the one dimensional tone of the show's comedy, and also keep in mind the ease of traveling for the inevitable road tours. He is most proud of the versatility of his sets in which a scene change between an intimate bedroom and a crowded casino was completed in only 3 seconds.

Zane Mark is credited with dance arrangements choreographed by the ubiquitous Jerry Mitchell (La Cage Aux Folles, Hairspray, Gypsy, Never Gonna Dance) who has been effectively reined in by Director Jack O'Brien, who must be complimented for allowing the eclectic strands of this convoluted story line to play out without unraveling entirely – keeping the show teetering delightfully on the edge of creative chaos. O'Brien, who has taclked diverse projects from the sublime (Henry IV) to the ridiculous ( Hairspray), has proved master of the task of capturing the zaniness and complexity of the protagonists' antics – this show could easily have transferred to Broadway as a straight comedy – and interweaved a snappy musical score and still managed all that in under 3 hours (just).

Those who must intellectualize will find many similarities to Producers, Pygmalion , Rogers & Hammerstein, and so on, but this show can stand on its own four feet.