By MITCHELL PEARL
This past weekend saw the first theatrical production on the Otter Valley stage featuring adult actors and singers in 22 years. The Brandon Recreation Department, in collaboration with Otter Valley’s Walking Stick Theatre Company, put on the musical comedy “Lucky Stiff,” to appreciative audiences. “Lucky Stiff” is an offbeat, hilarious murder mystery musical farce, complete with mistaken identities, a six-million-dollar inheritance, and a corpse in a wheelchair.
The story follows Harry, played ably by recent OV graduate Baker LaRock. Harry is a forlorn English shoe salesman who receives unexpected news: he is to receive a large inheritance from an uncle in America he never knew. But to receive his inheritance, he must take the embalmed body of his recently murdered uncle on an all-expenses paid vacation to Monte Carlo. If he fails, the money goes to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. The dog home’s representative, Annabel Glick, is played by Sydney Singh, and while she and Harry start out as adversaries and competitors, the atmosphere of Monte Carlo will change that. But this is a musical farce, and so the story is even more complicated. The murderer, Rita LaPorta—played by Cara Woods—is legally blind and she often fails to wear her glasses. She thinks that she mistakenly murdered the only man she had ever really loved. But perhaps even that is not what really happened. As the opening number proclaims, “something funny is going on!”
The lead players were all a joy to watch. Cara Woods, the murderer, especially shone in “Rita’s Confession,” when she explains her predicament to her eye-doctor brother and convinces him to go to Monte Carlo with her. Vinnie DiRuzzio, the brother—played by Lennon Philo—was superb in his phone call home from the airport in France— “I won’t be home for dinner.” Kasey Franzoni, playing Dominique Du Monaco, nailed the number, “Speaking French,” at the night club in Monte Carlo. Baker LaRock, playing Harry, makes wonderful peace with his strange circumstances in “Lucky,” and the scenes between Harry and Annabel (Sydney Singh) when they bridge their differences in “Nice,” were, well, nice. Jeff Ladd had a more difficult job than one might imagine playing the “Body,” a/k/a the “Lucky Stiff.” He played the role with deadly accuracy.
As a play, “Lucky Stiff” benefits from several catchy musical numbers, but the plot suffers from unnecessary complexity. Like many musical comedies written for the American stage, Act II struggles to bring all the story lines together smoothly and coherently. That said, Harry’s dream sequence—reminiscent of Tevye’s Dream in “Fiddler on the Roof”—was skillfully directed and staged. The players, lighting, music, and staging all came together in this scene which fully captivated the audience. The moment when the nightmare ends was simply great theatre.
The small band was expertly directed by Kenny Cifone. The band accompanied the singers seamlessly and provided energy for the movement of the play without ever becoming obtrusive. Much of the time you barely knew they were there, which means they were doing their job perfectly.
“Lucky Stiff” was a great success for the first outing of the new collaboration between Brandon Rec and Otter Valley’s theatre department. Director Jeffrey Hull hopes that this will be the first of many community theater offerings, providing an opportunity for both adults and younger students in the Brandon area to participate in a community theater production. More productions will be in the works. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, save the dates for Otter Valley Theatre Department’s production of “Mean Girls,” to be shown on November 21, 22, 23, and 24.
