THEATER REVIEW

Rep world premiere: Windfall a big winner

Lottery tickets: 4,555 at $1 per. Jackpot: $350 million. Windfall, a very dark comedy by Scooter Pietsch that had its world premiere Friday at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre: Priceless.

The first act needs a little tightening up; the manic second-act battle scene is taken at the top of everybody's lungs, so some of the dialogue gets lost in all that volume.

But Pietsch's cautionary tale about the nature of money and the evils of greed is a big, big winner, thanks to a clever, frequently hilarious script (full of plenty of unprintable language), to the half dozen excellent actors and to the skillful direction of one Jason Alexander. (Yes, that Jason Alexander.)

Co-workers in a small Columbus, Ohio, data processing business who share everything, including their intense despair and all-in-the-same-boat resolution in the face of verbal and even slimy physical abuse from their maniacal, deceitful and refluxive boss, Glenn Brennon (Ray Wills), also each week pitch in $5 apiece on an office lottery pool.

With the jackpot approaching $350 million, and with the expectation that money can buy these unhappy people happiness, they share the vision of spiritual office visionary Galvan Kidd (Alvin Keith), who "galvanizes" them into taking a big risk. In the second act, the suspicion that one of them is holding the winning ticket but holding out on the others leads to extreme, extremely funny but very intense intraoffice violence and destruction. The mystery, of course, is whether there is, in actuality, a winning lottery ticket, and if so, who has it. Pietsch maintains the suspense throughout with some sharp and shocking twists.

Every performance is first rate, including those from Cyrus Alexander as the amorous, sodden office slacker; Lisa Ann Goldsmith as the blousy office manager; Nikki Coble as the bitter dead-ender; and Kayla Nicole Wikes as a fashionable new hire whom the others naturally (with a little help of their caustic boss) consider a threat.

Mike Nichols' office set is spot on, right down to the screen savers. Robert Pickens' wigs take a licking and keep on ticking; the same cannot be said for the hapless musical instrument in the second-act melee.

Catch Windfall at the Rep, Sixth and Main streets, Little Rock, Wednesday-Sunday through June 26. Ticket information is available by calling (501) 378-0405 or online at TheRep.org.

Metro on 06/11/2016

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