Review
Bingo
St. Luke's Church
November 12, 2005
Morgan Wycks
mwycks@nyconstage.org
Bingo is yet another harmless, silly musical allowing very talented performers to keep their skills sharpened for something hopefully more substantial in the future. This interactive trifle has its moments in the basement of St. Luke's Church, but again one has to ask if the price of admission is worth something as light as cotton candy.
The plot concerns bingo enthusiasts, if not outright obsessives, who venture into a horrific storm to get their bingo fix. As the evening progresses we learn in flashbacks of a petty incident that sent a rift between best friends who have since not seen each other in 15 years. The daughter of one of the friends finds her way to the bingo parlor to find out what actually happened, if she can mend the rift since her mother is ill with cancer, and then discovers herself in a situation similar to the one of 15 years ago. There are sub-plots concerning a player in love with the bingo "numbers - caller" and a player whose faith in lucky icons is challenged.
The cast of course is more than aware of the silliness playing it with enough conviction to tell the story while more than allowing one to be part of the fun. Thomas Caruso's staging is clever, wringing jokes out of everything even the one or two songs that are serious. I was particularly taken with Liz McCartney as the bullying friend and J.B. Wing who stepped in for Liz Larsen's smitten tramp at the performance I attended. The music and lyrics of Michael Heitzman, Ilene Reid and David Holcenberg have their charms even if they're reminiscent of songs from other shows.
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