“Lucky Stiff" at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse -- January 21 through March 7.
Wednesday, January 21, through Saturday, March 7
Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL
Opening its 2026 with a musical comedy hailed by Tripod as "sublimely silly and highly entertaining," the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse presents the Quad Cities debut of Lucky Stiff from January 21 through March 7, this delightful song-and-dance slapstick inspiring RachelReviewsTheatre.com to rave that the stage treat "has that energy a good farce should have, and I was laughing throughout."
With Lucky Stiff, audiences are invited to laugh out loud with a hilarious murder mystery. In the area premiere, Harry Witherspoon receives the unexpected news that he has received $6 million from his uncle, but only if he takes him on a vacation to Monte Carlo. The catch? Uncle Anthony is dead and embalmed, and if Harry fails at his task, the money will instead go to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. However, also hot on the tail of Uncle Anthony’s money is Rita, with whom Anthony embezzled $6 million behind her husband’s back. And hot on Rita’s trail is her brother Vinnie, who has been blamed for the crime. With mistaken identities, love interests, disguises, farcical chases, a cast of eccentric characters to prove Uncle Anthony is alive, and, of course, an omnipresent corpse, Lucky Stiff is an offbeat, madcap, hilarious romp of a murder-mystery musical.
Directing and choreographing Circa '21's debut of Lucky Stiff is frequent performer and helmer Ashley Becher, whose recent productions for the Rock Island Dinner Theatre have included Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Chicago, and The Addams Family. Ethan Hayward serves as the show's musical director, with additional members of Becher's creative team including: production manager Jeremy Littlejohn; stage manager and props designer Kendall McKasson; technical director Richard Baker; set designer and scenic artist Becky Meissen; costume designer Bradley Robert Jensen; lighting designer Heather Hauskins; sound designer Dylan Dutro; assistant stage manager and deck captain Emmett Boedeker; and executive producer (and Circa '21 owner) Dennis Hitchcock.
Venue veteran Bobby Becher (Chicago, Heartbreak Hotel) portrays the put-upon Harry, with fellow Circa '21 favorites Sarah Hayes (Come from Away) playing Rita, Jeremy Littlejohn (Garfield: The Musical) as Vinnie, and Brad Hauskins (Jersey Boys) as The Body of Uncle Anthony. A half-dozen stage talents, meanwhile, complete the Lucky Stiff ensemble: Cara Chumbley; Kyle DeFauw; Topher Elliott; Kiera Lynn; Megan Mistretta; and Paul Gregory Nelson.
Lucky Stiff will be performed in Rock Island from January 21 through March 7, and in addition to the show's 7:30 p.m. public previews on January 21 and 22, performances will be held on Fridays, Saturdays, and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 5:30 p.m.; and Wednesday afternoons at 1:15 p.m. All shows will be preceded by plated meals and pre-show entertainment by the theatre's performing wait staff of Circa '21 Bootleggers, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)786-7733 extension 2 and visiting Circa21.com.
