4th Wall Ends Season With LUCKY STIFF

4TH WALL THEATRE closes its 16th season with the comedy Lucky Stiff, the first musical by one of Broadway's hottest writing teams, Lynn Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music). This musical farce is based on the book The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo by Michael Butterworth. First produced at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway (Richard Rodgers Award) the show later went on to win Washington's Helen Hayes Award for Best Musical.

The show features RoBert Rice and Chelsea Stavis of New York, Maggie Letsche of Clifton, Tom Schopper of Bloomingdale, Jason Tamashausky of Metuchen, Jordan Gulick of Astoria, brian james Grace of Nutley, Julie Galorenzo of West Orange and Nelson Valentin and Kate Hoover of Bloomfield.

Josh Penzell returns to 4th Wall, having last directed Funny Girl in Concert two seasons ago. He is joined by Markus Hauck, of Montclair, who serves as the Music Director. Kathi Iannacone, formerly of West Orange, and Gwen Ricks-Spencer, formerly of Montclair, are the Production Managers, and Martha Thalheimer of Glen Ridge serves as the Stage Manager.

Described as "a zany, offbeat, and very funny murder mystery farce complete with slamming doors, mistaken identities, six million bucks in diamonds, and a corpse in a wheelchair," Lucky Stiff has something to offer everyone who wants to have a good time at the theatre.

The story revolves around an unassuming English shoe salesman who is forced to take the embalmed body of his recently-murdered Atlantic City uncle on a vacation to Monte Carlo. Should he succeed in passing Uncle off as alive, Harry Witherspoon stands to inherit $6,000,000. If not, the money goes to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn, and Harry really hates dogs.

Of Lucky Stiff, director Josh Penzell says, "So often we spend our lives waiting for something special or magical or different or inspirational to happen to us. We work day in and day out, knowing that someday it will all be worth it; and all the while, our lives are passing us by. In Lucky Stiff, we meet this motley group of characters and fortunately for all of them, the outlandish dying wish of a casino manager to enjoy a vacation in Monte Carlo, even posthumously, is about to change all their luck."

Lucky Stiff will play at the Westminster Center for the Arts on the campus of Bloomfield College in Bloomfield and runs June 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22 at8:00 p.m. and Sunday, June 16 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are only $24, and discount tickets available for students and seniors. Tickets may be purchased by calling 973-748-9000 ext. 1279. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover are accepted. Tickets may also be purchased online and additional information is available at www.4thwalltheatre.org

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