Bingo: The Winning Musical

The United States writers of Bingo offered Pantseat Productions the musical’s Australian premiere rights after seeing YouTube clips of songs from another offbeat show the Newcastle group staged last year.
Pantseat’s delightful production certainly justified the faith shown in them.
The musical focuses on the experiences at a weekly bingo tournament of three women who are so passionate about the game that they brave driving through a hurricane to get there.
The audience gets to play three rounds of bingo that are built into the story, with the trio arriving in the hall at the end of the first game and their self-appointed leader Vern (Lia Pati) berating the tournament hosts for not waiting for them.
It is a tempestuous night inside the hall, as well as outside, with memories of a long forgotten event stirred up by a young newcomer.
Lia Pati and the other trio members, Alison Lobb’s ditzy blonde Honey and Alicia Paterson’s superstitious Patsy, sang up a storm from their bright opening number, Girls’ Night Out, with their solos, such as Patsy’s gospel-style I Believe in You, drawing on a range of song types.
With just seven actors – the others were Tim Shearman as the bingo caller in Honey’s sights, Nola Wallace as the no-nonsense bingo hall operator, Kate Fahey as the new arrival, and Jackie Brown as a woman from the trio’s past – and a small band ensemble, Bingo certainly showed itself to be a winning musical. And director and choreographer Daniel Kavanagh proved himself to be well and truly on top of the game.
Ken Longworth