LUCKY STIFF, the zany off-Broadway musical from Tony-winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, comes to the big screen! The film adaptation, starring Tony winners Jason Alexander ("Seinfeld") and Nikki M. James ("The Book of Mormon," "LES MISERABLES"), Dominic Marsh ("Missing," "Doctors") and Pamela Shaw ("Swingers," "The Whistleblower"), will have its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival today, August 22. It will compete in the World Competition category.
Attending the premiere will be the film's stars
Nikki M. James and
Pamela Shaw and producers
Victor Syrmis and
J. Todd Harris. The film will screen for the public on Friday, August 22 (9:30am), Saturday, August 23 (2pm) and Sunday, August 31 (9:30pm).
Also starring are
Don Amendolia ("Law and Order," "Frasier"), two-time Tony nominee
Jayne Houdyshell ("Well," "Follies"),
Kate Shindle ("Capote," "The Stepford Wives") and the late
Dennis Farina ("Get Shorty", "Saving Private Ryan").
LUCKY STIFF is a musical comedy with a romantic heart. A young down-and-out British shoe salesman named Harry Witherspoon (Dominic Marsh) takes his dead American uncle (
Don Amendolia), a murdered casino manager, to
Monte Carlo for the best time of his life - a week of fun, dancing, gambling and sun. If the young man fulfills his uncle's request to the letter, he will inherit the $6 million left to him. If he doesn't, the money will go to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. As Harry races from casino to nightclub to beach to bedroom with his dead uncle, he is chased by a desperate put-upon optometrist (
Jason Alexander), his controlling, myopic, trigger-happy sister (
Pamela Shaw), an avaricious French chanteuse (
Kate Shindle), a mysterious Italian playboy (
Dennis Farina), as well as a young woman from Brooklyn (
Nikki M. James) dead set on getting that money for the dogs. Guns go off, disguises go on, champagne corks pop, nightmares come to life, romance blossoms, dogs bark, and everyone sings! It's a zany, frothy, colorful and fast-paced musical farce with a very happy ending.
LUCKY STIFF first premiered in 1988 off-Broadway at New York's Playwright's Horizons. A recipient of the
Richard Rodgers Award and Washington's
Helen Hayes Award for Best Musical, the musical has been performed all over the world including London's West End. LUCKY STIFF is based on
Michael Butterworth's 1983 novel "The Man Who Broke the Bank at
Monte Carlo."
LUCKY STIFF marks the feature film directorial debut of Tony®-nominee
Christopher Ashley ("Memphis," "The Rocky Horror Show").
Victor Syrmis and
J. Todd Harris produced the film. Tony® Award-winning writer
Lynn Ahrens ("Ragtime," "Rocky") adapted the stage production for the screen.
LUCKY STIFF is set to be released in 2015. Watch the recently released trailer here: http://youtu.be/kXdT4FGiUnw
For updates on the film,
follow LUCKY STIFF on Facebook.
LUCKY STIFF festival screenings will be held at the Cinéma Impérial (1430, Rue de Bleury, Montreal) at the following times:
Friday, August 22, 9:30am (for press only followed by press conference at 2pm)
Friday, August 22, 7pm (for public)
Saturday, August 23, 2pm (for public)
Sunday, August 31, 9:30pm (for public)
See Montreal World Film Festival's site for more details and to purchase tickets
www.ffm-montreal.org.
