Book & Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens Music by
Stephen Flaherty
At Chapel off Chapel until
November 4, 2001
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
There is a corpse on stage throughout Lucky Stiff. Yes, a
corpse. A live actor spends two hours playing dead in this US musical written
in 1988 by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.
Let me explain. In order to inherit six million dollars from
his unknown American uncle's will, young Englishman, Harry Witherspoon, (Mark
Doggett) must take Uncle Anthony's stuffed, dead body (Larry Hunter-Stewart) on
a jaunt to Monte Carlo.
He is pursued by a peculiar collection of persons all after
the money: Rita, the rapacious ex-girlfriend and accidental murderer of Uncle,
(Pamela Shaw) Vinnie, her optometrist brother (Randall Berger) and a dogged
young woman, Annabel, (Elizabeth O'Hanlon) supporter of a Dogs' Home.
This bizarre premise makes for really good comic business.
Ahrens' lyrics and dialogue are witty and swift. Music by Flaherty derives from
the US school of musicals. It is peppy and filled with singable tunes.
Rita's Confession song is a gem. The lyrics dip and dive
through her complex and hilarious confession of theft, murder and blame. Shaw,
a skilful and funny musical theatre performer, is delightful in the role of
Rita, the over-dressed tart.
Doggett has a certain charm as the shy young shoe salesman
and his light tenor voice is a treat.
As his love interest, Annabel, O'Hanlon gets all the best
songs. Her Times Like This (...A Girl Could use a Dog) allows the relentless
pace of this production to slow momentarily and her love duet with Doggett,
Nice, is a sweet, romantic moment.
There are some cheering cameos from the chorus members,
particularly Iain Murton and Greg Ross.
However, there is a tendency to over-acting and pushing the
comic characters so that there is no room to breathe for an audience. But
director, Luke Gallagher, keeps the pace swift. Scene changes are snappy,
choruses are jolly and the choreography (Tamara Finch) is simple and effective.
The feature of this show is the musical director and sole
musician, Nigel Ubrihien, He alone, on a grand piano at the side of stage,
maintains the musical background and foreground of the show. He works like a
Trojan and it pays off.
The show just needs to take a breath here and there.
By Kate Herbert
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