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(foreground) Harry Groener (Nick) & Kelly Bishop (Veronica)
(background) John Jellison (Wilson) & Alyson Reed (Gussie)

Newsday, Thursday August 21, 1986
"The Cast of the Dead Flamingo Dancer" … is one of the freshest efforts at musical comedy to come along in a long time. People who love dance, or old movies, or a good time, won’t want to miss it.

The Southampton Press, August 28, 1986
Anyone who loves slambang fun, nonstop dancing, marvelous melody, inventiveness, cleverness, and the kind of mindless but satisfying theatre you thought was dead forever, get yourselves rapidly to the John Drew Theater, before "The Case of the Dead Flamingo Dancer" flies away. Because this show is going places, make no mistake about that. It has "hit" written all over it in big glittery letters. Book and lyric writer Dan Butler and composer Donald Oliver … have assembled a first-rate cast and then given them a wealth of wonderful material to sock across the footlights. The result is an evening that is not a send-up, not a college kind of camp, but a warmly affectionate gathering together of much that was characteristic and charismatic about the musical theatre and musical films of the 1930s and 1940s. What is not ‘30s and ‘40s style is the skillful interweaving of music and lyrics, which don’t, in the method of that day, stop the show dead, but instead move it delightfully forward. Rather than trying to mimic or send up 1940s songs, Donald Oliver wisely and skillfully does as Stephen Sondheim did in "Follies"—he takes the style and the sound, duplicates both with unerring accuracy, and then invests the song with melodic phrases that are entirely his own. Dan Butler’s book and lyrics mesh superbly with this concept. A comic writer with a fine appreciation for the absolutely absurd, he can also convolute a plot and spin out a sprightly lyric. With a solid and intelligent and witty book, melodious music and articulate lyrics … "The Case of the Dead Flamingo Dancer" seems to have the stamp … of success on it.

Josephine Blake (Veronica), Jessica Martin (Gussie),
Myra Sands (Mrs. Dexter) & Kathryn Evans (Cecily)

The East Hampton Star, August 28, 1986
The John Drew Theater and its artistic directors [have] come up with an audience-pleaser, a package of pure entertainment. Dan Butler has come up with an imaginative concept and lyrics to push it along, and Don Oliver has composed a delightful score that remains true to the period it teases. For a purely enjoyable evening, it’s highly recommended.

Croydon Advertiser, April 10, 1992
… this spool of spoofs splendidly succeeds. … the show itself is conceived with such love and affection that both words and music gush out in a joyous stream. Dan Butler’s book and lyrics are a fountain of wit and teasing irony. And the composer, Donald Oliver … has provided a score which brilliantly mixes a diversity of elements into a unified whole.

Esher News and Mail, September 5, 1991
"Flamingo Dancer" is brash uninhibited and very lively … the audience loved every foot-tapping minute. … outrageously funny and entertaining. … the perfect way to relax and forget the day’s troubles.

The Stage, August 29, 1991
… the funniest of detective spoofs set to song and dance. … highly theatrical … a two hour romp.

Kathryn Evans (Cecily) & Ray C. Davis (Courtly)

Surrey Herald, August 22, 1991
The combination of witty one-liners, spectacular dancing and a clever plot provide all the ingredients to make this hilarious show a success.

Guardian Series, August 30, 1991
A sure sign of a good murder mystery is an audience that spends the interval trying to guess who done it. A successful musical will have the crowds humming as they leave the auditorium. "The Case of the Dead Flamingo Dancer" … miraculously manages to achieve the two.

Surrey Advertiser, August 23, 1991
It is a pastiche 40s musical and it rejoices in the fact and has lots of the brash razzmatazz and glamour of that era. … the audience was apparently bewitched. Time and again the musical numbers were applauded, and at the end the audience was shouting for more. Everyone was howling with laughter.