BINGO LADIES THE MUSICAL to Play HVT, 8/12-30

Bingo Ladies the Musical, the full-length Canadian musical comedy that premiered at the Port Stanley Theatre Festival last summer, is coming to HVT from August 12 to 30, 2015. Grant Tilly composed the music and wrote the book and lyrics for both the one-act version that debuted at the Lunch Box Theatre in Calgary (nominated for three Betty Mitchell Awards) and this full-length production, which took Port Stanley by storm. Three of the four original cast members return along with the play's inaugural director and musical director, Liz Gilroy and Meredith Zwicker respectively.

HVT Artistic Director, Matt Tiffin, summarizes the play's wide appeal. "Bingo Ladies is a hilarious, fun and outrageous show; perfect summer fare. With sixteen original, catchy, inspiring songs that you'll be humming for days - and four totally recognizable characters - Bingo Ladies is a lively and entertaining afternoon or evening."

A fluorescent-lit hall, multi-coloured daubers, big dreams, and a troll named Thor ... it's Friday night at the Bingo hall and the gloves are off! Carol, a middle-aged waitress, desperately needs to win to pay off her sizeable debts. Her best friend, Sandi, tags along because she's entertaining romantic ideas about the Bingo caller, Lou, who's still grappling with the loss of his lifelong dream to front a rock band. Rounding out the quirky cast is Irene, a cantankerous septuagenarian know-it-all, oxygen tank in tow, who always wins! How far are these Bingo enthusiasts willing to go to win the big jackpot?

While studying for his BA in Drama at the University of Calgary, Tilly joined the Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Group. Tilly was introduced to the wild and wonderful world of Bingo when he volunteered to help raise funds for the troupe by lending a hand at local Bingo games. Tilly never played during his stint with the Ukrainian folk dancers so he went back to refresh himself while writing Bingo Ladies, going so far as to base some of his songs on various Bingo games.

Bingo Ladies the Musical features Mark Allan (Lou), Laura Caswell (Sandi), Elinor Holt (Carol) and Mary Pitt (Irene). Holt helped workshop Bingo Ladies through Suncor Energy's Stage One Festival of works in progress before performing the one-act version at Calgary's Lunchbox Theatre in the spring of 2014. West Islander, Jo-Anne Vezina, created the set, with lighting by Plateau resident, Tom Rodrigues, and costumes by Torontonian, Alex Amini. Another West Islander, Seamus Ryan, returns to HVT for the second consecutive show this summer to stage manage. Between the cast and design team, their considerable talents have spanned the nation's stages from the Maritime's Neptune Theatre and Charlottetown Festival to Stratford, the Prairie provinces and BC.