What happens when an unassuming English shoe salesman is forced to take the embalmed body of his recently murdered uncle on a vacation to Monte Carlo? Well the stakes are high as he can inherit $6,000,000 if he can pass of his Uncle as being alive or risk losing the fortune to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn.
To find out more about this hilarious murder mystery farce, that is splattered with mistaken identities, diamonds and a corpse in a wheelchair, make your date with Lucky Stiff, based on the novel ‘The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo’ by Michael Butterworth.
The director, Leila Alvares, is a stalwart in the Bengaluru theatre scene, known especially for being involved in all things music – creating a niche in the sparsely populated musical space. Apart from conducting choirs, organizing and producing musical events, Leila has, for two decades, brought local productions of Broadway hits and musicals to the city stage. She began, she says, with Western classical music, starting piano lessons at the age of five. “My interest in theatre and choirs started in my teen years,” she recalls. “In college, I used to organise a lot of smaller productions and choirs and have always been interested in anything to do with music, which is why I stick to musical theatre.” The Addams Family, Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, GREASE, My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – Alavares keeps her date with the city at the end of August each year.
“I stuck to the classics initially but my forte lies in musical comedies – I like people to feel happy when they leave the auditorium. Also, we have found, travelling through South India, that audiences respond really well to English productions. In the past, we had to ask people to watch the shows, but now, we have no problems at all. In the last 15 years, we have putting tickets out and they are bought. We have about 2000 people in Bengaluru who come back every year now,” says Alvares. This response from the audience also drives Alvares, despite the fact that putting up a show is getting more stressful. Especially for a stickler like Alvares. In her shows, everything is done live, including the music, unlike other shows, which simply use the music tracks. “I’m particular about sticking with the traditional way of doing theatre, that includes hand painted sets,” she says. “I don’t believe in projecting things on a screen because I think my audience needs something different.”
The musical is in aid of Alvares’ non profit organisation, The Cause Foundation, which was founded 20 years ago, first to promote local talent and then in support of local charities. “Every year, we choose an animal charity because I love animals and we also help one charity founded by an individual who is in need of help, rather than organisations that are well-established.” Last year, the team contributed to the Kodagu flood relief.
The aim? The show must go on. “I want to keep putting on my productions every year,” she says. The play is supported by C. Krishniah Chetty group of Jewellers to celebrate their sesquicentennial 150th anniversary has a cast including Rahael Thomas, Deepa Jacob, Trina Dutt, Arvind Kasthuri, Lionel De Nazareth Tasneem Kera and Prem Koshy, the live band directed by Vivek Menzel and dances are choreographed by Alisha D’Souza, Ritushi VK and Lionel De Nazareth.
What: Lucky Stiff - A Delightfully Funny Musical Comedy
When: Aug. 31, Sept. 1 and Sept. 7
Where: Chowdiah Hall, (two shows), MLR, Whitefield (one show) plus 1 benefit show for the less privileged children in the morning
