Search - Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens :: Lucky Stiff (1993 Original Cast Members)

Lucky Stiff Studio Cast Recording- 4 Stars

John M Brown | 02/20/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After doing the production of Lucky Syiff locally I decided to listen to the recording. The show, based on the book The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo!, is a winner good for any theatre group to porduce. The music it's self gets 5 stars, but this soundtrack could use a few minor improvements, but other than that it's grate. For one, they left out a song (A Woman in my Bathroom), and they chaned a little bit of it. If you'r not farmillar with the show, buy the cd. The show is great. If you are interested in performing the show its avalable via Music Theatre International (mtishows@aol.com)"

LUCKY ME!!!

John Adams | Fort Lauderdale, Florida United States | 11/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Answer me this... Why are all the best musicals so underrated. I ask this because Lucky Stiff (only 15 performances) for me is right up there with "Assassins" (only 73 performances) as an underrated masterpiece. Lucky Stiff is a musical that is bursting with humor that can't be overtaken. I never laughed so much with a cast recording since I first listened to "You're A Good Man Charlie Brown." This musical supplies us with a charming set of characters ranging from bizarre to just plain loony, and not to mention an original, wacky plotline. Try and name any other musical or anything for that matter where our main character is stuck toting his dead uncle to the Riviera to collect on an inheritence, while at the same time he has a crazy gun-toting "Would-you-please-wear-your-glasses-before-someone gets-hurt" woman, and her panicky brother and plus and dog-activist on his tail all trying to get ahold of the money for some reason. Please have the sense to find this one. Don't deprive yourself of such humourous songs like "Lucky, Dogs V.S. You" and "Fancy Meeting You Here." you'll laugh all the way to the surprise twist and the touching finale / reprise of "Good To Be Alive." And trust me after listening to this musical you'll also feel "you're one lucky stiff, and so am I.""

"then you say 'ooh la la' which causes...BOOM! I love that!"

Portia | United States | 01/02/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Based on a (now) obscure novel by Michael Butterworth, "Lucky Stiff" is a frothy little musical that has been made into an album worth owning. I ran across it totally by accident when a friend loaned it to me because she was planning on auditioning for a role in it at her college. At first, I wasn't sure if I liked it that much, but after listening to the whole thing, decided that it was way too witty and enjoyable to be passed up. The plot is silly and complicated. The leads are unassuming and stereotypical. It is Agatha Christie meets Cole Porter. The general idea is that a young, poor, British shoesalesman inherits a fortune from his dead uncle from New Jersey. The twist is, in order to get the cash, he's got to take his uncle (posthumously, of course) on his dream vacation to Monte Carlo. Chased there by the dog charity who is also up for inheriting the money and his uncle's mistress (who accidently is also his murderer) and her brother, chaos and humor naturally commence. But is Uncle really dead? Will uptight British nephew loosen up and find love in the south of France? None of these questions are exactly deep, but the show moves at such a clever, quick pace and the double twist at the ending, though expected, is satisfying. The best numbers on the soundtrack, by far, are "Rita's Confession" (which has strains spookily reminiscent of "Little Shop of Horrors" song "Mushnik and Son", which is probably only interesting to the handful of people who like that number), "The Phone Call", "Speaking French" (my personal favorite), "Fancy Meeting You Here" and "Nice"."