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Disclaimer:
The reviewers' opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TheatreLouisville.org. |
Peer Reviews Derby Dinner Playhouse presents Reviewed by Cory Vaughn Entire contents are copyright © 2009 Cory Vaughn. All rights reserved.
Lucky Stiff combines the best elements of the classic Broadway-style musicals which Derby Dinner Playhouse used to do all the time, and the family-oriented screwball comedy farces that are becoming Derby's new forte.
The show is one of the earliest collaborations between composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist/occasional book writer Lynn Ahrens, who would team up again to write some of my favorite musical theatre scores, including Once On This Island and My Favorite Year, and won richly deserved Tony Awards with their score for Ragtime, as well as two Oscar nominations for their songs for the animated movie musical Anastasia. While their first score is not quite up to the level of those later achievements, it is extremely good for a pair of beginners. The songs run the gamut from silly charm songs like "Dogs Versus You" to disarming ballads like "Times Like This" and a pleasant surprise in the form of so-rotten-to-the-roots-it's-kind-of-sweet duet "Nice". Ms. Ahrens' book is slightly to the left of Seussical the Musical (a more recent Ahrens-Flaherty collaboration) on the frivolity meter. A New Jersey casino mogul drops dead under suspicious circumstances and leaves a six million dollar fortune to the person who can complete the unusual terms of his last will and testament. Contestant #1 is Harry Witherspoon (Brian Bowman), the deceased's only known relative, a meek and put-upon British shoe salesman who must take his uncle's corpse on a week-long vacation to Monte Carlo (!) for gambling, scuba diving, wine, women, and song. Reluctant at first, Harry begins to enjoy living it up for the first time in his life on his Monte Carlo adventure with the uncle he never knew he had. Then the plot thickens with the arrival of Contestant #2: mousy, awkward Annabelle Glick (Michelle Johnson), representative of the late uncle's favorite charity, the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn, who hounds Harry (no pun intended) over the whole trip hoping to catch him make a mistake and default on the will. No points for figuring out that these two are only foils so that they can become love interests. Also in hot pursuit of Witherspoon and his uncle (for reasons I never could quite understand) are the uncle's brassy, gun-toting, and — oh, yes! — near-blind moll (Rita Thomas) and her optometrist brother-turned-reluctant accomplice (Cary Wiger). I have not even mentioned the plot complications involving a snooty bellhop (Lem Jackson), a sexy French maid (Tina Jo Wallace), a flamboyant maitre d' (Kevin Crain), an alluring nightclub singer (Sandra Rivera), and a buoyant but mysterious Italian tourist (John Payonk). At first glance, Derby favorite Brian Bowman seemed too conventionally good-looking, even bordering on the suave, to be believable as dull and dreary Harry, who by his own admission, "you wouldn't know from a hole in the wall." But he quickly won me over with his excellent vocals and lithe footwork. I must give a special mention to Paul Kerr, who is charged with the Ultimate Straight Man Duty: he plays the dead guy, spending most of the show being led around in a wheelchair by the other actors, not moving except when the other actors move him, all the while keeping an absolutely straight face . . . and somehow, he steals the show! If there were theatrical awards in Louisville, I'd nominate this guy for Best Supporting Actor for not merely playing, but ultimately inhabiting — oh, heck; dare I say it? — outright living his role as a corpse. Dead Men may tell no tales, but they sure can tap! Be sure to arrive early enough (see below) for the Derby Buffet (desserts and cocktails are an extra fee) and (except during Wednesday matinees) for the Footnotes, an eight-person pre-show singing group. They're not bad at all (I especially liked the men's tight-harmony rendition of the Gershwins' "Embraceable You"), but as usual, their main job is to give the audience a little preview of the next musical of the season, and unfortunately in this case, that's the godawful Elvis Presley-inspired Jukebox Musical All Shook Up. We wish Derby Dinner Playhouse better luck with that most eye-rollingest of groan-fests than the folks on Broadway had with it!
Lucky Stiff http://derbydinner.com/ Tickets: Starring: Brian Bowman, Michelle Johnson, Paul Kerr, Rita Thomas, John Payonk, Cary Wiger, Sandra Rivera, Kevin Crain, Tina Jo Wallace, and Lem Jackson Posted February 23, 2009
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