Lucky Stiff at Oceanside Theatre Company

A musical farce
An absurd musical full of misfits and miscreants trailing along after a dead man on holiday, Lucky Stiff, written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, is “Weekend at Bernie’s” meets “You’ve Got Mail!” A co-production of OTC and Scripps Ranch Theatre, Lucky Stiff tells the story of Harry, an English shoe salesman who receives the unexpected news that he has inherited a fortune from his late Uncle Anthony, on the condition that he takes his uncle’s dead body on a special trip to Monte Carlo. If Harry refuses to fulfill all of his uncle’s last wishes exactly, the inheritance will go to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. It doesn’t help matters that Rita, Tony’s lover with whom he embezzled $6 million behind her husband’s back, and her brother Vinnie, who she blamed for the crime, have their own schemes to get at the money. Based on the novel The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo by Michael Butterworth, Lucky Stiff is a life-affirming comedy served up with a dash of danger featuring romance, disguises, farcical chases, and an omnipresent corpse.

Book and Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Music by Stephen Flaherty.