Bay Street's "Windfall" is a Mega-Hit

The Master of dark comedy, Lenny Bruce, said, "Once the country was settled and built, the bosses changed the order from a stack of educated workers to a barrel of minimum wage lottery dreamers." More than 50 years later, Scooter Pietsch's new play, Windfall, certainly bears witness to the visionary wisdom of Mr. Bruce.

The play centers around five disgruntled employees who work for Brannon Data Entry in Columbus, Ohio. After one of them, Galvin Kidd, portrayed by the very talented Ro Boddie, has a vision that he and his co-workers will win the coveted 500-million-dollar lottery jackpot, but only if they are all willing to bet more than any of them can stand to lose. Winning the Lotto seems like the only way any of them can break away from their hellish existence and get away from their tyrannical boss. Now, you might ask, why would Galvin's co-workers believe such a highly improbable scenario? Well, Galvin is a Bible-quoting would-be prophet. One of the show's highlights was Mr. Boddie's heartrending delivery of a moving, well-crafted monologue, where he reveals a prophecy he once had that saved his family's lives. The five co-workers are convinced that they will win the lottery and throw caution to the wind and risk it all. When things go south, suspicion, greed, and vengeance take over all of them, and chaos, violence, and anarchy ensue.

Glenn Brannon, their employer, diabolically played by Spencer Garrett, is the antagonist in this modern-day morality tale. Mr. Garrett gave a formidable performance as the boss from hell. It was horrifying to watch the way he appeared to derive great pleasure from abusing his overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated employees.

Dylan S. Wallach as Chris Hart, a young man who parties too much and breaks every rule of woke office behavior, received some of the biggest laughs of the evening, especially his larger-than-life responses to the physical pain caused by intentionally slamming his hand in his boss's door, and later when he is physically assaulted by Hannah Higley, his neurotic co-worker, who he is sleeping with and cheating on. Abigail Isom, as Hannah, gave a command performance as a jealous, obsessive, insecure young woman, desperate to hold onto her job and her man, even though neither one of them is serving her higher good. Badia Farha gave a stellar performance as Kate Rearden, the sexy office manager who finds herself caught in an unlikely love triangle. Ms. Farha is a natural-born comedian and delivered her lines with perfect timing. Talia Thiesfield gave a noteworthy performance as Jacqueline Vanderbilt, the new employee whose picture purchase appearance belies her actual down-and-out life situation. Ms. Thiesfield's reaction to the insane behavior of her fellow employees at the end of the show had the audience in stitches.

Christopher Vergara's creative costume designs fit the personalities of each of these diverse characters. I loved Jacqueline's chic designer clothes and Kate's sexy, though inappropriate, tight spandex outfits.

With this polished production, Jason Alexander, best known for his award-winning performance as George Costanza on Seinfeld, has proven himself to be a gifted director bringing out the best in this exceptional cast. The fight scenes are highly physical, sometimes slapstick in nature, and often laugh-out-loud hilarious. These rough and tumble scenes demand the skillful direction of a top-notch Fight Director, and I was surprised to learn that Jason Alexander is trained in martial arts and fight choreography, which came in handy for this production.

Kudos to the Props Designer, Lauren Page Russell, because I never knew there were so many weapons of destruction in an office setting, from pelting plastic coffee creamers at each other like grenades to threatening to amputate a hand with the paper trimmer.

The scenic design by Twi McCallum featured a realistic, working office complete with a view of the outside world via windows, a coffee station, separate Men and Women's bathrooms, and the requisite too close for comfort desks, which were, of course, in eyeshot of the boss, who had his own private office.

Bay Street's riveting production of Windfall is funny, thought-provoking, and a great way to open their 2022 season.

To purchase a Mainstage Subscription or tickets, call the Box Office at 631-725-9500 or visit the Mainstage Subscriptions Page at baystreet.org.

Cindi Sansone-Braff is an award-winning playwright. She has a BFA in Theatre from UCONN and is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Long Island Authors Group. She is the author of Grant Me a Higher Love, Why Good People Can't Leave Bad Relationships, and Confessions of a Reluctant Long Island Psychic. www.Grantmeahigherlove.com.