Those Broadway-bound Dirty Rotten Scoundrels have breezed into town, setting up shop at the Old Globe Theatre until Oct. 31.

Directed by Jack O’Brien, this show takes as its motto one of its major songs: “Give ‘em What They Want.” What they want, if the standing ovation is any indication, is a terrific acting ensemble led by John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz, a fabulous revolving set, lots of flying props and moving trees, spectacular costumes by Gregg Barnes and a score of listenable and singable songs by David Yazbek (who also scored The Full Monty). Scoundrels also sports a lot of corny and rather too many off-colored jokes and a few topical political references (“The Bushes of Tex were nervous wrecks because their son was dim” is a line from one of the songs).

The plot, based on two films, the 1964 Bedtime Story with David Niven and Marlon Brando, and 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Michael Caine and Steve Martin, is about con-men on the French Riviera who prey on “rich and corruptible” female tourists, usually American.

The mythical Beaumont-sur-Mer has for years been the exclusive territory of debonair Lawrence Jameson, a.k.a “The Prince” (Lithgow). Until young, vulgar American upstart, Freddy Benson (Butz), tries to move in, setting up a competition-cooperation-competition plot progression.

The scam’s the same as in the film only the technique differs here. Jameson’s deposed “prince” (aided by the corrupt police chief André) is raising money for “the poor children” of his former fiefdom. Freddy works alone, playing on his victims’ empathy for his poor, sick grandmother, who “needs an operation.”

But can this small beach town support two cons? Is there an endless supply of rich, gullible ladies to fleece? Get thee to the Globe to find out.

O’Brien’s design team is top notch. David Rockwell’s spectacular revolving set keeps the show moving at a good clip (and at 145 minutes, it needs to). The costumes (especially the women’s costumes in the first casino scene) are to die for, oozing class and loaded with color, beading and glitter.

Lithgow and Butz are perfect foils for each other – the classy (or faux classy) European and the crude American – and they are obviously having such a great time that you can’t help but do the same. Gregory Ybara’s André is a great crooked cop with a heart – and a smart mouth.

The trio of victims – Joanna Gleason, Sara Gettelfinger and Sherie Rene Scott – are terrific, and all can sing and dance as well.

No one asked, but I have some advice on fine-tuning this show for New York. The main problem is length – 145 minutes is too long. One sequence that should be cut is the cowboy dance number, which adds nothing but length and looks like it belongs in Annie Get Your Gun or Oklahoma!

Freddy’s big number “Great Big Stuff” is also too long and needs better diction – I didn’t catch the title until the last line, though it was repeated numerous times. In fact, better diction is needed throughout.

The show looks to be over about 15 minutes before it ends – then, just as you start shuffling your belongings, several codas ensue. There really is no need to import the entire film plot to the stage, nor to lengthen the proceedings by tossing in an unnecessary romance. The show should end when Christine Colgate (Scott) waves goodbye.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a rollicking good time that won’t last forever. It is slated to open in March at the Imperial Theatre in New York.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has been extended through Nov. 7, at the Old Globe Theatre. Shows Sun., Tues., Wed. at 7:00 p.m.; Thurs., Fri., Sat. at 8:00 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. at 2:00 p.m. For tickets call (619) 23-GLOBE; or visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to their website.

Ushers wear clown muffs and red rubber noses. The bright yellow stage curtain is a major player in the action. The king wears slippers on his hands and walks on all fours. The prince goes on a road trip in search of oranges.

What’s going on here?

La Jolla Playhouse reaches across the ocean and back a few centuries to Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi’s The Love of Three Oranges, which itself harkens 200 years further back to the commedia dell’arte tradition. The Playhouse has brought Romanian director Nona Ciobanu to translate her Bucharest success to the La Jolla stage.

This play combines commedia, wordplay, mime and even modern dance into a visual spectacular that begins with the curtain as a huge belly through which several of the central characters emerge. Prince Tartaglia (Jim Parsons), looking like a wiggly, pregnant caterpillar, as well as five other characters in their own yellow body bags.

The plot is about as silly as they come. Prince Tartaglia suffers from “terminal hypochondria,” which seems to manifest as “failure to laugh”. His father, King Silvio of Lugubria (Time Winters), fears the boy will die if his mood does not lift.

Fate intervenes in the form of the evil witch Fata Morgana (Donald Corren), who in trying to scare everybody actually makes the prince laugh. This so incenses Morgana that he curses the prince to fall in love with three oranges – very particular oranges, which the prince must travel to a distant corner of the earth to find. The prince embarks on this road trip with his trusty servant Truffaldino (the gorgeous-bodied John Altieri).

There’s a little more to the plot, but that doesn’t really matter. It’s the stage business you’re here for, and it’s pretty damn good. That moving, billowing, nearly alive lemon-yellow curtain serves as backdrop, cover, observer of the action, even dance partner. And there are other characters: Smeraldina (Tina Benko), the slithery siren who makes a play for the king; Clarice (Carmen Gill) and Leandro (Owiso Odera), who have designs on the kingdom; and Ninetta (Pascale Armand), eventually the object of Tartaglia’s affection. Most of the actors play multiple roles.

Oranges is the result of a challenge from Gozzi’s rival, Carlo Goldoni (Servant of Two Masters), who was, by the mid-18th century, going along with the tide and writing more realistic plays. Gozzi had taken Goldoni and another playwright to task for “plebeian phrases,” upon which Goldoni dared him to write a better play. Oranges turned out to be the first of 10 dramatic fables, all of which were based on the much earlier commedia dell’arte tradition.

Ciobanu’s cast is uniformly excellent, but Altieri’s Truffaldino is a standout both for his comic timing and because he looks spectacular in that tight yellow leotard.

The Love of Three Oranges is not your average play. You will need to be in a mood to enjoy organized silliness. But this one you will remember.

The Love for Three Oranges plays through Oct. 17 at La Jolla Playhouse. Shows Tues.-Sat. at 8:00 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. matinees at 2:00 p.m.; Sun. evening at 7:00 p.m. For tickets call (858) 550-1010 or visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to their website.