Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, presented by Interact, opens Feb. 12; plays Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 3 pm; through March 21. Tickets: $15-$30. NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood; 818.765.8732 or interact.org.

The Ensemble of DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

Interact Theatre has its share of rascals lining up to spread their mischief these days and director Richard Israel has drawn the task of keeping them corralled or at least guiding their villainy to the enjoyment of Interact subscribers. As the first production of the company’s 20^th anniversary season, comes the musical comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels which boasts a lineage from both Hollywood and Broadway.

These scamps first saw the light of day in the movie of the same title in 1988 with Steve Martin and Michael Caine portraying the two con men and then popped up again totally revamped but no less unscrupulous at New York’s Imperial Theatre in 2005 for a run of 627 performances where Norbert Leo Butz and John Lithgow took over their dastardly deeds sweetened only slightly by music, lyrics and dance steps. Toss in a Tony Award for Butz in his role and we realize it’s an impressive ancestry indeed.

Equally impressive rings the resume of Israel who helms this incarnation of the musical.  Onstage with Music Theatre Guild he appeared in My Favorite Year, Floyd Collins, Saturday Night, Rags, Where’s Charley? and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn while TV viewers saw him in All About the Andersons, Sabrina, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Larry Sanders Show and a starring role in the series Freshman Dorm although for that one he insists you had to look fast.

Richard Israel

He recalls with a laugh, “We hit the air in 1992 for about a minute and a half. We only aired six episodes but never in the same time slot twice. We were pre-empted by both the Republican and Democratic conventions. Matthew Fox was on the show. This was before anyone knew who he was.”

But if Fox later became “Lost,” Israel began establishing himself very much in the “found” department via an extension of his talents on the other side of the footlights. He moved into directing successfully enough to become co-artistic director with Les Hanson of West Coast Ensemble where he shepherded such productions as Floyd Collins, Wonder of the World, The Diary of Anne Frank, Music From a Sparkling Plant, Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins, Big-the Musical and Assassins to such critical acclaim he began to attract other assignments to direct at the Norris Theatre, Music Theatre West, Actors Co-op and now Interact.

“I made contact with Interact,” he says, “two years ago when I worked with Steven Connor of their company in our production of Assassins.”

It seems perfectly logical a stint with “scoundrels” could evolve quite naturally from an association with “assassins” but how does Israel feel about any comparisons with his upcoming production to Broadway, touring companies or even the original movie? “Well first of all the stage show takes the title and the main characters from the movie but reinvents the story through song and dance so there is no comparison there. As far as Broadway and touring productions it would be like comparing apples to apples when it’s really more like apples to oranges because our staging space is much smaller which I have to figure into my calculus for a different environment. I’m completely retextualizing how we tell the story.

“Those audiences who want to compare ours with other more expansive productions, I think that’s great. I say compare away because I think they’ll see as we’ve scaled it from large to small we’ve maintained the core of the story so it’s actually much more immediate in a far more intimate space.”

The we he refers to are his production team which consists of musical director Johanna Kent and choreographer Tracy Powell. He speaks highly of both. “I’ve worked with Johanna many times so we have pretty short conversations centering on sharing our vision on how to telescope our production to fit the space given the resources we have at our disposal.

“And I find with Tracy there’s a great deal of overlapping between the staging and the dance so we’re working closely to make it really seamless.”

Michael Manuel as Andre Thibault and Susan Hull as Muriel Eubanks

So being an actor who moved into directing, which does Israel prefer? “I enjoy them all equally though to be truthful I’ve been doing more directing than acting as of late. I think I’m much more secure as a director because I’ve been an actor. It’s easier to connect with an actor’s vocabulary. I believe an intuitive director can see certain problems before they grow insurmountable just as an actor who has also directed can help diagnose problems in a script and become collaborative as a problem solver.”

He praises his present cast in that regard.  They consist of Chip Phillips and Matt Wolpe as the rascally scoundrels plus Kelly Lohman as the object of their swindling ways. Rounding out the townspeople of the play are Steven Connor, James Cooper, Ellen Dostal, Jessica Evans, Robert Briscoe Evans, Marc Fellner-Erez, Susan Hull, Michael Manuel, Melanie Rockwell, Sara J. Stuckey and Tracy Powell doing double duty. “Honestly,” he says, “there’s been a dearth of problems and a multitude of solutions with this cast.”

He also attests that Interact reminds him of home – i. e. West Coast Ensemble. “I’m a hired gun for this show so I haven’t had a lot of experience with Interact but the personality of their company reflects that of my own. The tonality is similar to ours. I have so much admiration for theatre companies in this town because it’s hard to commit to theatre in a film town. Any group that does so earns my immediate respect.”

Meanwhile back at West Coast they’ve hit a bit of a snag with the economy similar to Wall Street or the automakers. “We don’t have a permanent home at the moment. In fact we’ve bounced around from place to place over the last four years. As a result our core company has grown smaller but stronger. I truly believe artistically we’ve had some of our best years in a long time so I’m not worried. I think we’ll congeal back together in a meaningful, artistic cohesion.”

Richard Israel is there to lead them whenever and wherever they regroup in his own meaningful, artistic fashion as evidenced by the Milton Katselas Award for career achievement in direction which he has not yet officially received. The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle will bestow him that honor at their 41^st annual awards ceremony on Monday, March 22 at the Colony Theatre.

Feature image of Chip Phillips as Lawrence Jameson, Tracy Powell as Jolene Oakes,  Matt Wolpe as Freddy Benson and story images by Dana Wayne