SACT gets Lucky once again

There’s a bit of a grisly, almost side-splitting vibe to seeing a play about a man who must cart a corpse around Monte Carlo to earn a $6-million inheritance.

But it seems like a seamless fit as St. Albert Children’s Theatre celebrates its 30th anniversary season with a reprise of Lucky Stiff at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, running Aug. 11 to 21.

Under the direction of artistic director Janice Flower, SACT first produced this wacky murder mystery farce 15 years ago in 1996. It was voted one of the Top 10 shows of the Fringe that year.

As SACT celebrates a landmark year, Flower has invited the old cast and alumni to reprise their roles in this old-fashioned farce complete with slamming doors, mistaken identities and $6 million in missing diamonds.

“It was such a great cast with great kids. They were so talented. It was an awesome experience and I wanted to do it again,” says Flower.

But one of the great ironies is that official Fringe plays are chosen by a lottery system. “We applied for spots in the lottery, but never lucked out until this year,” Flower says.

Pulling a cast together that had dispersed to different theatre cities across North America was no small feat. Luckily, Matt Alden (Real Time/Boygroove/Caution: May Contain Nuts), who plays Harry, the simple shoe salesman forced to vacation with his recently murdered uncle, still lives in Edmonton.

But his sister Emily Dykes (Rita La Porta) had gone overseas to train with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before attending the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. She eventually scored the lead of Sophie in Mamma Mia on the international tour before settling in Los Angeles to sing in a couple of bands.

Celina Dean Stachow (Annabelle Glick), a Grant MacEwan University graduate made her mark in ingénue roles in Edmonton before moving to Los Angeles, where she picked up theatre shows and voice-over work.

Dan Abrahamson (Vinnie), a graduate of Sheridan Musical Theatre College, has made Toronto home and just published a play, Funny Business, with Samuel French. “I just got a $4 royalty cheque,” he laughs.

And Vanessa Sabourin (Dominique du Monaco) — founder of The Maggie Tree and with a raft of credits to her name as actress, playwright, director and producer — now lives in Calgary.

But when Flower put the call out, seven actors with original leading roles were able to rearrange their schedules for the Edmonton show. “We owe her a lot,” explains Abrahamson.

Despite the distance and separation of years, the cast’s closeness never waned. “It’s like anyone coming home for Christmas with family,” adds Dykes.

“As soon as we met, we all regressed back to when we were 17,” Sabourin laughs.

Dean Stachow interjects: “It’s just that now we’re age-appropriate. Back then, we were 16, 17, 18, 19 playing adults. Now it’s really cool to be these characters at the right age.”

Flower has booked a fast-paced but short 10-day rehearsal period. And as Abrahamson points out, the music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens are plain fun.

“It’s an homage to good musical theatre construction. It’s an awesome structured classic with doors opening and closing and chases.”