Derby Dinner Playhouse's zany, aptly titled Lucky Stiff, a musical mystery and farcical tour de force, is a gladly received antidote for the winter blahs. With great gusto and split-second timing under producer/director Bekki Jo Schneider's deft direction, the Playhouse ensemble plunges headlong into unraveling the deliriously goofy plot.
This involves a down-at-heels British shoe salesman, Harry Witherspoon (Brian Bowman, in splendid form), whose dead American uncle's will leaves him $6 million if he transports the corpse (preserved by taxidermy and wearing sunglasses) to Monte Carlo in a wheelchair for a prescribed fling of gambling, nightclubbing, and scuba diving.
Stalking Witherspoon throughout in hopes he'll fail -- which would cause the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn, uncle's favorite charity, to inherit the millions -- is prim Miss Annabel Glick (Michelle Johnson, whose subtle, endearing performance engenders empathy).
Lucky Stiff, which premiered off Broadway in 1988 and was revived in 2003, was the first collaboration of book and lyric writer Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty. They went on to create Once on This Island, Ragtime, Seussical the Musical and The Glorious Ones. Their youthful work, based on Michael Butterworth's "The Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo," is a wildly funny romp that speeds through episodes in England, New Jersey, and the French Riviera like an out-of-control freight train.
Lucky Stiff gives all 10 cast members a chance to shine as they switch roles, accents, and costumes for some 30 characters.
In a part that brings out all her formidable talent, Rita Thomas plays Rita La Porta, the loud, controlling sister of optometrist Vincent Di Rizzio (Cary Wiger; his "Mary Alice," song in a phone call to his wife, is a hoot), whom she has falsely fingered as an embezzler of jewels she and her lover stole from her husband's casino. She claims she "accidentally" shot the lover, who was Witherspoon's uncle.
Hysterical Rita recounts her convoluted tale to Vinnie in the rowdy "Rita's Confession." Attention must be paid when that woman sings -- or emotes!
It was bound to happen that Witherspoon and Miss Glick would be drawn to each other, and they are. Their duet on "Nice": "It was nice hating you, nice knowing I was aggravating you" is a gem.
"Times Like This," Glick's heartfelt solo about dogs being more comforting than people is another highlight. Her idea of company is a dog's "friendly face that melts you with a grin and unlike certain people you can teach him how to stay."
Versatile Kevin Crain shines in cameos as an epicene cabaret emcee and a nun, while Sandra Rivera is a scintillating Dominique du Monaco starring in a Monte Carlo floorshow.
Paul Kerr is without doubt a master of deadpan as he's rolled through scenes in his wheelchair as deceased Uncle Tony. Though he says not a word, he may have had the hardest part to play; he does it superbly.
