Ladies, keep your purses closed. Gentleman, refrain from opening your wallets. Everybody, beware of talk of investment; do not disclose your financial information. There are swindlers in the room.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the musical comedy slated to start off Mason Street Warehouse's eighth theatre season, recounts the misadventure of two professional con men working the French Riviera who quickly discover the territory is too small for the both of them.

Lawrence Jameson, the incumbent con man played by Bernie Yvon of Ragtime and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat fame, is a suave and sophisticated scammer who has amassed a mansion and a large bank account for himself by preying on the wealthy and naïve expatriates who vacation in the area.

Freddy Benson, played by Billy Konsoer, is the opposite of Jameson-crass and small-time-but keen to repeat Jameson's success. When Jameson and Benson realize two scoundrels in the Riviera are too many, they make a wager that requires the loser to leave town.

Their wager targets the affluent American Christine Colgate, played by Kristy Cates of the original Broadway cast of Wicked; the first one to sluice $50,000 from Colgate is the winner.

Director and choreographer for the musical, Kurt Stamm, who is also artistic director and founder of MSW, says DRS was chosen as the season opener because it will "open the floodgates, start the season with a bang."

"This musical is high-energy, full of ridiculous scenarios, and really smart ... one of the best I've seen in the last ten years," Stamm said. "The lyrics are incredibly witty. The score and the storytelling are so seamlessly integrated. It will really set the tone for the season and give us momentum. Also, it's just too big a production to do mid-season; best to do it when everyone's fresh."

Yvon is fresh, though he admits acting in a musical comedy is still a tall order, since so timing is so tricky, and so much depends on waiting for the audience's response. Nonetheless, he insists, this musical isn't one to be missed.

"DRS contains great songs, great comedy, and great characters, with all the glitz and glamour of the French Riviera thrown in," Yvon said.

Yvon should know: he visited the French Riviera a few years ago, though he's happy to be in Saugatuck for the production of DRS because it reminds him of his home-state Maine. A Chicago resident and no stranger to New York City, Yvon likes getting away from the big cities for a time.

"Frankly, there couldn't be a more charming town [than Saugatuck]. It was part of the appeal of working here for six weeks. Some consider it the art capital of the Midwest. The people are smart, savvy, open-minded. There's no better place for the showing of DRS."

And there's no better timing, as MSW, which nine years ago was Rich's Pie Factory, recently finished the last of its renovations. What used to be just a shell of a building is now the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, and MSW's theatre space sits where the old walk-in pie freezer used to be.