Going to the Dogs

A rousing good time will be had by all at the wildly funny musical, Lucky Stiff, now playing at the Glendale Centre Theatre. Directed and choreographed by Mark Knowles, this little gem of a story with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty, will tickle your funny bone.

The story opens with a bang in New Jersey when a guy is murdered…in Jersey? Instead of being done in by a mobster, the unlucky stiff is killed by a jealous girlfriend. The poor guy always wanted to vacation in Monte Carlo, but that looks out of the question, but where there´s a will…there´s a way.

The dearly departed left a will leaving his six million-dollar estate to a nephew he had never met, but with one very strange condition: The nephew has to take the dead uncle on the trip of a lifetime. If he fails to do so, the money reverts to a shelter for stray dogs.

The nephew, Harry Witherspoon, played by the amiable Jason W. Webb, accepts the challenge. After all, his current life as a shoe salesman isn´t exactly making his tail wag. So Harry takes Uncle Anthony, who has been taxidermied for travel, in his wheelchair and off they go.

The train ride to the resort city is done simply by a cast of very talented actors sitting on plain black boxes bouncing along while they sing a rather apropos song, "Good To Be Alive" with good old Uncle Anthony bouncing along, too.

Also on the train is a curious young woman taking notes of the goings on. She is Miss Annabel Glick, played by the perky Kelly Michelle Smith. Annabel works for the dog charity and wants to catch Harry not fulfilling the terms of the will so the money will literally go to the dogs.

Meanwhile, back in Jersey, the girlfriend, Rita, who did the dastardly deed, recruits her optometrist brother, Vinnie, to help her get her hands on the loot that has been turned into six million dollars worth of diamonds. Rita, played with amazing energy by Alison England, needs to get the money back since it was she who embezzled it from her own husband in the first place. Her delightfully nerdy brother, played by Clayton Shane Farris, is constantly expecting everything to go awry.

The madcap scenes around Monte Carlo with the dead guy in a wheelchair are a scream. Just picture Harry and his uncle skydiving or deep sea diving. And all of this is done with the most minimalist of sets. Tim Dietlein designed the sets which consist of a series of variously shaped black boxes arranged and rearranged to be the counter in the shoe store, an office, a piano in a nightclub, a bed in the hotel, and a phone booth. And it works.

James Warnock plays the pivotal role of a fellow traveler on the train, Luigi, who just happens to end up at the same hotel.

The rest of the small cast includes four talented actors who put on various hats to become everything from a Southern Lady on the train, a nightclub singer, a French emcee, a leper and a nun. You gotta see it to believe it. The actors: Stephanie Hayslip, Alex Rose Wiesel, Jason Keef, and Leo Foti.

Last but not least is the dead guy, Uncle Anthony, played without a titter or guffaw throughout the entire madness by Kyle Kelley. He did perfect ´deadpan´ while people sat on him, sang to him, and went skydiving with him. What a hoot!

The play runs through October 17, 2009, at the Glendale Centre Theatre, 324 N. Orange Street, Glendale, CA. Tickets are reasonable. Season Tickets are even better. Contact the theater at www.glendalecentretheatre.com.

You´d be barking mad not to go see this laugh-a-minute production.