A `DIRTY ROTTEN' LETDOWN.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

A few years after they got their clock cleaned on the awards circuit by ``The Producers,'' ``The Full Monty'' composer David Yazbek, director Jack O'Brien and choreographer Jerry Mitchell came back with the musical ``Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.'' A more blatant case of ``if you can't beat 'em, copy 'em'' you won't find.

Here's the thing about grifter musicals, though. Comic star wattage and barrages of show-biz shtick don't carry the day if the source material is flimsy. You don't need a soggy heart or a cop-out happy ending, but the stakes need to be higher than ``will the show be a hit?'' or ``who gets away with the $50,000?''

``Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,'' on its national tour at the Pantages Theatre, earned its name -- justifiably -- thanks to an ultra-manic performance by Norbert Leo Butz. Period. End of story. No Butz, no bucks.

Yes, the original partnered him with John Lithgow and threw in Sherie Rene Scott as the preyed-upon ingenue. And granted, the 1988 movie on which ``Scoundrels'' was based had some smarts. But subtract the pants-down, gyrations-filled antics of its original wild man, and ``Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' becomes ``Mild-Mannered Weak Pussycats'' in a heartbeat.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the tour. Strange thing, since the redoubtable Butz is still in the show, still moving the character of moronic scam artist Freddy Benson from set piece to set piece. His performance still crackles. Around him, ``Scoundrels'' coughs and wheezes.

Why? Because, plotwise, there genuinely is no earthly reason to be interested. Lawrence Jameson (played by Tom Hewitt) the aging master of swindle who mentors, then challenges, Freddy, will be just fine. Christine Colgate (Laura Marie Duncan), the mark who Lawrence and Freddy are trying to bilk without falling in love with her first, may face some jeopardy. But c'mon! Don't the gorgeously naive deserve to end up with egg on their pusses?

It's not simply that O'Brien and book writer Jeffrey Lane give us too much time in the company of the Beaumont Sur Mer's corrupt police chief (Drew McVety) and the gullible matron (Hollis Resnik) previously screwed over by Lawrence. Even when we're in Lawrence and Freddy's company, it feels like we're being given a performance rather than being let into the game. Indeed, this whole endeavor is more exercise than game.

Compared to the ``Scoundrels'' (with Butz and Lithgow) I first caught two years ago in San Diego, this show feels perfunctory. A wicked black sensibility I could stomach gratefully. By-the-numbers diffidence is another matter.

As Jameson, Hewitt's smug drollery carries him through the first act, and later he strikes some flint when -- impersonating a German shrink -- he goes for the low comic gusto. Duncan's a bit too graceful to be a convincing klutz, but she delivers sufficient ingenue charm. Jennifer Foote does a no-holds-barred comic turn as an Oklahoma heiress looking to snag Lawrence.

It's more than a relief to see that, umpteen performances later, Butz isn't going through the motions. He's still mugging, flopping, prancing and double-taking his way through one of the juiciest scene-chewable roles in recent memory. The man's hair never stays in place. Costumer Gregg Barnes dresses him in anti-elegance no matter what the situation, and -- ah, the simple things -- Butz is shorter than every pigeon he encounters.

As was the case with ``Monty,'' Yazbek's score is smarter than the material. You need a certain dark wit to title a song ``Oklahoma'' and rhyme the word with ``melanoma.'' The bookend songs ``Great Big Stuff'' (sung by Freddy) and ``Dirty Rotten Number'' (Lawrence and Freddy) both contain the kind of rocking energy that ``Scoundrels'' is trying to deliver.

Butz and Hewitt can sell it. A discerning audience shouldn't be buying.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS - Two star

Where: Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; through Aug. 27.

Tickets: $25 to $80. [phone].

In a nutshell: Norbert Leo Butz excels as a coarse con artist. The rest of ``Scoundrels'' is heavily flimsy.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Norbert Leo Butz, left, and Tom Hewitt are the title characters in ``Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,'' at the Pantages Theatre through Aug. 27.