Fans of the musical writing team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty probably think of the shows Ragtime and Once On This Island first among their works. They’ll find a very different kettle of fish with the collaborators’ first show, Lucky Stiff, which opens Florida Studio Theatre’s mainstage season at the Gompertz Theatre.

Derived from the 1983 book The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, by Michael Butterworth, Lucky Stiff is more of a comic romp, with lots of action and sometimes over-the-top bits. The scene is set with the opening number, “Something Funny’s Going On,” where the ensemble cast prepares us for both the story and the mood.

Harry Witherspoon (Barrett Riggins) is a shoe salesman in London whose life is a bore, until one day, out of the blue, he receives a telegram. That sends him to a solicitor’s office, where he learns that an uncle he didn’t really know has died in a shooting in Atlantic City and left him a fortune—provided he can fulfill the will’s very unusual demands: Trundle the uncle’s corpse around on a planned and paid-for vacation to Monte Carlo.

At first that seems impossible, but Harry’s desperate enough to give it a try. With the preserved body (played by ABC7 weatherman John Scalzi) in a wheelchair, the duo are soon enough (if implausibly enough) skydiving, scuba diving, and, of course, gambling, with a foolproof system devised by the uncle. It’s all a lot of fun, but there’s a wrinkle: If Harry fails to meet any detail specified by the will, the money will instead go to a New York City home for dogs, whose representative, Annabel Glick (Amanda Rose), is tailing the pair every step of the way to check for infractions.

Also along for the ride are the very nearsighted Rita (Laura Yen Solito), who fired the gun in Atlantic City, her reluctant optometrist brother (Scott Cote) and a rather suspicious stranger named Luigi (James Patterson). Plus an ever-changing cast of supporting characters, from hotel staff to a smarmy club emcee to a nightclub singer and more.

Under the direction and often clever musical staging of Ben Liebert, it’s all fast-paced and entertaining, with a scenic design (by Isabel A. and Moriah Curley-Clay) that relies a lot on the projections designed by Nicholas Christensen to take us all over Monte Carlo. While most of the musical numbers are aimed to comic effect (“Dogs Vs. You,” “Monte Carlo!”, “Speaking French”), a couple are sweet, including “Nice,” a duet for Harry and Annabel that deserves to be better known.

Riggins and Rose are well paired romantically, while Laura Yen Solito pulls out all the stops as the gun-toting Rita and Cote scores with his character’s escalating frustration, especially on a number reaching his wife back home (“The Phone Call”). Kudos, too, to Harry Nadal’s costumes (especially for Rita) and music director Nathaniel Beliveau’s sure hand behind the scenes.

Lucky Stiff first had an off-Broadway production back in 1988, with a West End production in London in 1997, but it’s never been seen on Broadway. It may pale in comparison to the sweeping Ragtime or other Ahrens-Flaherty shows, but it has its own energy and spirit that should leave you laughing.

Lucky Stiff continues through Dec. 28; for tickets, call (941) 351-8000 or visit floridastudiotheatre.org.