From Under the Stage

This is a fun book to play, and a rascally show worth checking out.

I’m not sure if I would have ever come across this show if not for my friend Tom (Musical Director) asking me to play trumpet for it. The story is in the title – we follow a bunch of con-artists trying to weasel their way into money, all for their own nefarious goals. Turns out they and their mark have a lot more in common than first thought.

In this two-act show, we see a few different cons instigated by leading lads Lawrence and Freddy. They work together to get Lawrence out of having to marry a woman he conned, which culminates in a bet between them – whoever can swindle a woman out of her $50,000 wins and gets to stay in town, the other has to leave. They target a Miss Christine Colgate, “The American Soap Queen”, a clumsy, bumbling girl apparently heiress to a business fortune. Freddy poses as a paraplegic war veteran to try to win her sympathy, needing the money to see a fictional Dr Schuffhausen in order to walk again. Christine offers to pay, when it’s revealed that Dr Emil Schuffhausen is staying in the very hotel they are in – and so Lawrence enters posing as the now not-so-fictional doctor to end act one.

Wicked fun trumpet part in this score – two, I should say. Plus, a trombone and French horn to round out the brass section. The full instrumentation also includes violin/viola, cello, 3 reed players, 2 keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and percussion. All combining to create an irreverent score that humourously tosses between massive ballads, jazzy dance numbers, and the odd waltz and a yodel. “Great Big Stuff” is a raunchy number that makes fun of “living large” and all the stereotypical haunts of the rich in 1980s America. The song that kept me stifling giggles was “Love is My Legs”, which is a ridiculous title on its own, but the story at this point is so hilarious from the audience perspective. The audience knows the entire time that the con is going on, and the innocence of the targets plays spectacularly well against this.

For our set up, the orchestra was hidden behind the set, so we had some view of the stage through window slats. References to the orchestra were met with a few instruments held above the screen in greeting. This made for a very narrow strip where the MD stood in the centre facing a wall and the orchestra spread left and right. Maximum 2 people sitting side by side but many sat alone behind someone else. If memory serves me, a keyboard sat either side of the MD, and on our side the horn sat behind keyboard, trumpets behind horn, and trombone behind us. I can’t recall the set up on the opposite side, considering I was playing trumpet I probably didn’t care enough! Cast were able to run beside us to move to either side of the stage. Made for some close calls some nights! The poor drummer however was in a separate room side of stage with only a camera to see the MD! Considering all the above, Tom did an excellent job keeping us Scoundrels in order.

David Yazbek is behind the score of this entertaining show, and his musical credits are The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Women on The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Tootsie, The Band’s Visit and Dead Outlaw. Though he’s had many Tony Award nominations and won for The Band’s Visit, I was hoping for a longer list!

If a production comes up near enough to me, I will be heading to the show to see all the parts I missed when stuck behind a loud piece of metal.