The Pines Dinner Theatre is presenting the Lehigh Valley premiere of a murder-mystery musical by the creators of the Tony Award-winning musical “Ragtime.”

Lynn Ahrens’ and Stephen Flaherty’s ‘“Lucky Stiff” runs Aug. 30 to Oct. 25 at The Pines, Allentown.

“Lucky Stiff” is an offbeat musical farce with a plot about mistaken identities, $6 million in diamonds, and a corpse in a wheelchair.

An unassuming shoe salesman Harry Witherspoon (Ryan Domalewski) is forced to take the embalmed body of his recently-murdered uncle Tony (Matthew Geist and Michael Lutterschmidt, double-cast) on a vacation to Monte Carlo.

If Harry succeeds in passing his uncle off as alive, he will inherit $6 million. If not, the money goes to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Rita (Amber Blatt), his uncle’s gun-toting ex, is also after the money.

The cast includes Gabrielle Hondorp, Deven Windisch, Christopher Pizolato, Gabriel Craig, Connor Sternberg, Moriah Faith and Lydia Walker.

“Lucky Stiff” was the first collaboration of Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Flaherty (music). The show is based on the 1983 novel, “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo,” by Michael Butterworth. It was created and performed at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway in 1988, winning that year’s Richard Rodgers Award.

Aherns and Flaherty went on to write many Broadway musicals, including “Ragtime,” “Seussical,” “Anastasia” and “Once on This Island.”

Pines Dinner Theater’s 2026 season includes “I Love You Because: A Modern Day Musical Love Story,” Jan. 17 - Feb, 28; “Lucky Malone’s Not So Lucky Night,” March 14 - April 18; “The Marvelous Wonderette’s Caps and Gowns,” May 2 - June 20; “School of Rock: The Musical,” July 9 - Aug. 22; “Whodunit: The Musical,” Sept. 5 - Oct. 24, and “Christmas at the Pines,” Nov. 7 - Dec. 27.

“Lucky Stiff,” Noon dinner, 1:30 p.m. show Thursdays, Sundays; 6 p.m. dinner, 7:30 p.m. show Fridays; noon dinner, 1:30 p.m. show, 6 p.m. dinner, 7:30 p.m. show Saturdays, Aug. 30 - Oct. 25, The Pines Dinner Theatre, 315 S. Cedar Crest Boulevard, Allentown. 610-433-2333, https://www.pinesdinnertheatre.com/

“Curtain Rises” is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com