Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...With Avery -- as solid as a filled-up diagonal -- anchoring the show and Renee Matthews -- a cross between a grandma and a madam -- on hand to run the parlor, "Bingo" should do quite nicely this summer in certain circles. Er, squares."
Chicago Sun Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Sometimes talent and determination just aren't enough. Now at the Apollo Theater in a show called "Bingo," you will find six unstoppable Chicago actresses, all with powerhouse voices and a commitment to the inane material at hand that goes far beyond the call of duty. Their gallant efforts are almost entirely in vain."
Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...There's some silly fun in Michael Heitzman and Ilene Reid's songs, in the cast's ability to actually realize the stereotyped characters, and in the opportunity given the audience to play a few games of bingo over the show's 90 minutes. But this production would be much more rewarding if it connected the dots, producing a plotline, instead of just scattering random plot points."
Windy City Times
- Recommended
"...The material here isn’t going to be short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize anytime soon, nor does it provide continuous dramatic tension to fill 90 intermission-less minutes. ( Why else would there be the throwaway, but still very funny, song regarding a misguided off-off-Broadway musical adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? ) . But Bingo authors Michael Heitzman, Ilene Reid and David Holcenberg make the show hummable and campy enough to keep you laughing."
Chicago Free Press
- Recommended
"...Silly stereotypes, diverting dances, groaner jokes, eager-beaver bravura turns, goofy novelty numbers—“Bingo” holds all the cards, good and bad. Ultimately, its big ticket price may be its undoing or a test to tell how many Bingo faithful have been waiting for their show."
Gay Chicago Magazine
- Somewhat Recommended
"...I don’t think a musical theatre freak, middle-aged woman or even an avid bingo player would find much interesting about the commercial venture of “Bingo” at the Apollo Theatre. At least, I think that’s who the show is written to attract. This 90-minute, intermission-free construct is composed of an insipid story line, a dozen or so forgettable musical numbers and a cheesier-than-cheesy setting."
EpochTimes
- Recommended
"...If you are a Bingo player or know someone who is, you are aware that most Bingo players are fanatics about their game; they buy special equipment, have all kinds of lucky charms and "live for the game". In fact, based on my experience of having a Bingo player in the family, the game to the player is as important as Monday Night Football is to the sport fanatic. Well, for these players (and anyone who just wants to have 90 minutes of sheer fun) the new show at The Apollo Theater on Lincoln Ave, "Bingo: The Winning New Musical" is a delightful evening of just that- delight."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Like Menopause the Musical, which played on this stage for more than three years until closing last fall, Bingo: The Winning New Musical seems designed to target (the pocketbooks of) middle-aged women out on the town. The question with such shows—which often give away their artistic ambitions with the subtitled Musical and which bludgeon us with the imperative to have a good time while failing to provide one—is why they tend to patronize the people they’re ostensibly trying to attract."
ChicagoCritic
- Recommended
"...The cast is lead by the fabulous, commanding leading lady—Renee Mathews whose comic timing and grandmotherly charm wins us instantly as the host of the Bingo game. She is surrounded by three bingo-obsessed friends: Vern (Cheryl Avery), Patsy (Neda Spears) and Honey (Jacquelyn Ritz)."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Somewhat Recommended
"...It would be easy enough to write off this quirky 90-minute novelty confection as theatrical junk food, were it not for the incredible talent on the Apollo stage. Watching these 7 dynamos pour everything they’ve got into barely mediocre material is bittersweet. Cheryl Avery’s tough-as-nails Vern has a voice and command of the stage rarely seen since the days of Ethel Merman."
