'Lucky Stiff' makes a winning bet on comedy at Florida Studio Theatre

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s “Lucky Stiff” is alive and kicking at FST. The play’s main character isn’t. He’s a stiff. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. He’s kicked the bucket, shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. 

He’s dead, mate. To paraphrase John Lennon, “Death is what happens when you were busy making other plans.” This ex-character had planned a vacation in Monte Carlo. Dead or not, he’s made sure he’s going to go. And where there’s a will, there’s a way.

After a quick set-up, the farce unfolds in Monaco. Monte Carlo is the place. The musical never spells out the time. But it feels like the 1960s jet age. Or the fantasies of those years. Daydreams of louche luxury, in films and plays like “Pink Panther” and “Boeing Boeing.”

Harry Witherspoon (Barrett Riggins) is the stiff’s British nephew. This cringingly polite shoe salesman lives a life of quiet desperation in New Jersey. Despair turns to joy at a reading of his uncle’s will. The estate attorney informs him that his late Uncle Anthony left him $6 million — with one grisly catch. Uncle Anthony’s body. His taxidermized remains now reside in a wheelchair. To cash in, Harry’s must fly this stiff to Monte Carlo and wheel him around for a whirlwind week of fun. 

Skydiving! Scuba diving! Gambling! While Uncle Anthony kicked the bucket, he can still tick off his bucket list. With his nephew’s help. It’s all spelled out in a minute-by minute itinerary — which Harry must strictly follow. The Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn gets his uncle’s fortune if he slips up. 

To complicate matters, Harry’s pursued by Annabel, (Amanda Rose), the canine charity’s uptight representative; Rita (Laura Yen Solito) a trigger-happy ex-mistress; and her brother, Vinnie (Scott Cote) an anxious optometrist. Some vacation. For Harry, it’s a long, strange trip indeed.

Director Ben Liebert spins the comedy faster than a roulette wheel. It’s a farcical farrago of disguises, dance numbers, sexy chanteuses, mistaken identities and a corpse on wheels. Liebert’s comic tone is the love child of Monty Python and the Marx Brothers. That’s perfect for this crazy vacation. The actors are, too.

Riggins’ Harry is a nice guy — warm-hearted but scared stiff. He’s terrified of saying or doing the wrong thing. His self-doubt makes that a self-fulfilling prophecy. His character sparks real chemistry with Rose’s Annabel. But she bottles up her simmering affection. She wants to claim Harry’s inheritance; she doesn’t want to love him. It’s a sweet romantic undercurrent. 

Solito’s Rita steals the show as a nearsighted, gun-toting, self-centered gangster’s moll. Cote’s nervous Vinnie trembles beside her in comic misery. John Scalzi delivers a stiff performance as Uncle Anthony. (And that’s a good thing.)

FST’s shapeshifting ensemble also includes James Patterson, Sarah Hund, Soraiah Williams, Jason Pintar and Brad Myer. They spell out the lunacy like a madcap Greek chorus. And play multiple roles with vaudevillian precision.

Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay’s set design is a French Riviera of the mind. It’s a pop-up playground of European luxury, seduction and self-indulgence. Ben Rawson’s lighting and Nicholas Christensen’s sound create a screwball comedy joy ride. 

Harry Nadal’s costumes — from Rita La Porta’s feather-trimmed frock to Annabel Glick’s sensible shoes — turn character traits into sight gags. It’s a big bowl of eye candy. And a beautiful background to the musical’s song and dance.

Ahrens and Flaherty’s tunes can be subtle (“Nice”) or on-the-nose (“Something Funny’s Going On”). Either way, they’re funny and fun. Musical director Nathaniel Beliveau uncorks the musical’s bubbly score with snappy tempos and crystal clarity. Every lyric comes through.

Bottom line?

“Lucky Stiff” is sweet, silly, preposterous fun. Its script is packed with laughs and very little logic. How did Harry get his uncle’s corpse on the plane in the first place? 

Who cares? Not Ahrens and Flaherty. Their lighthearted show has no heavy lessons. Or existential, political, philosophical or sociological depths of any kind. Their mad musical’s also full of plot holes and stock characters. So what? It’s hilarious, and that’s what counts. 

It was also a great beginning.

“Lucky Stiff” was Ahrens and Flaherty’s first musical collaboration. It didn’t seem promising at the time. The show premiered in 1988 — and was dead-on-arrival after only 15 off-Broadway performances. It now enjoys a lively afterlife. The duo also went on to create hits like “Ragtime” and “Once Upon this Island.”

Their “Lucky Stiff” got the last laugh after all.