'Dirty rotten' musical

New York City-based actor D.B. Bonds says Salt Lake City holds a special place in his heart, as it was an audition here that kick-started his career.

Bonds co-stars as small-time con-man Freddy Benson in the national touring company of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." The musical begins a run in the Capitol Theatre on Tuesday.

But in 1995, Bonds was performing in "Forever Plaid" in the Utah Musical Theatre in Ogden when he saw an audition notice "that really changed everything."

Open auditions were being held in Salt Lake City for the national touring production of "Les Miserables." At the time, Bonds was planning to head back to Florida and return to school. Instead, he was picked to join the "Les Miserables" cast and he became a professional Equity performer.

"I have been very lucky to have worked relatively steadily onstage," he said by phone from St. Louis, Mo., "and this is what I was going to school for."

Bonds will celebrate his 32nd birthday on April 29, the final day of "Scoundrels"' weeklong Utah engagement. "This really is a fun show, much different from 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'Les Miserables.' But it's a dream role to get to play Freddy every night. 'Scoundrels' is not quite the religious experience that 'Les Miserables' was, but it's a good, eclectic week of theater."

Before joining the cast of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," Bonds was involved with the off-Broadway production of a musical with deep Utah roots — Michael McLean and Kevin Kelly's short-lived "The Ark." "McLean is a wonderful man, but the show was a tough sell for New York audiences."

It did, however, give Bonds an opportunity to work on his first original-cast recording.

Executive producer Marty Bell, who was also involved with the development of such Broadway hits as "Ragtime," "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Fosse," visited Salt Lake City a while back to meet with the local press and conduct a question-and-answer session with theater students at the University of Utah.

"It's hard to know these days exactly who is a 'producer,' since everyone who invests in the show can be called a producer," Bell told the Deseret Morning News. "I'm the hands-on producer, I guess, since I started working with the creators (composer David Yazbek and writer Jeffrey Lane) to develop the script. Then I hire the rest of the design team, fund the workshops and readings, get the paperwork together to raise the money, work with the lawyers, raise more money, cast the show and try to keep the show in budget.