Who says bad guys can't be funny? bring a smile to our faces."

But, in case you're not the type to enjoy the "bad guys", the Burien Little Theatre would like to make you an offer you can't refuse.

Organized crime has never been so entertaining as when BLT presents the world premiere of Thugs: A Musical Mafiasco.

Burien Little Theatre continues its 2006-07 season Friday, Feb. 16, with the opening of an original musical comedy from the inventive pens of local composer Kim Douglass and playwright Dave Tucker. .

Loosely based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, Thugs takes us back to 1929, where two inept thugs banished from Chicago's gangland community find work in the lazy town of Shady Groves.

Working as bodyguards for two different bosses, the thugs discover that both their employers, one a man and the other a woman, are disguising themselves as Chicago mobster Anthony Sartori.

Add to this mixture two feuding crime lords, their lovesick children, a notorious hit man, a whirlwind of mistaken identity, and soon-to-be classic tunes such as "A Most Sadistic Fellow" and "We Gotta Whack Him," and you have a farcical look at organized crime that is so funny it ought to be illegal.

But, why a comedy about the mafia? "It's fun!" exclaims playwright Dave Tucker. "Not today's mafia, but Capone's mafia of the '30s. We're far enough removed from it that it's funny, it's not so real."

Thugs: A Musical Mafiasco features the talents of actors Katie Murdock Edwards, Mark Banton, Jennifer Hill, Anna Marie Devine, Adam Othman, Eric Grimes, Nick Fuchs, Jeff Pray, Shane Regan and Christian Doyle.

Burien Little Theatre's highly anticipated production runs from Feb. 16 through March 11. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at the theater in the Burien Community Center, Fourth Avenue Southwest and Southwest 146th Street.

General admission is $20 Fridays and Saturdays and $17 Sundays. Senior and student admission is $17 for all shows.

Feb. 23 will be "Five Buck Friday," when admission is $5, with audience members welcome to donate more.

Dinner and a show package includes a three-course meal at Burien's Mark Restaurant & Bar plus a ticket to the show for just $45, and excludes all other discounts.

Call BLT at 206-242-5180 for reservations or log onto www.burienlittletheatre.com.

Editor's note: Aya Takechi pursues her theatrical interests at the Buren Little Theatre. She is not involved in this production of Thugs.