Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40 gives David Lindsay-Abaire’s consistently compelling Good People an impeccably acted intimate theater revival whose only real minus is its scenic design.

Allison Blanchard stars sensationally as Margie (the “g” in her name is as hard as her will to survive the mean streets of South Boston), a 40something single mom who finds herself suddenly jobless after Stevie (Michael Kerr), the manager of the local Dollar Store where she’s been cashiering, fires her from her $9.20 an hour job despite pleas that he give her an eighth warning instead of a pink slip.

Though Stevie’s supervisor would likely see the reason for Margie’s perpetual tardiness—a severely retarded adult child cared for by a landlady whose frequent sleeping in causes her downstairs tenant to arrive an hour late—as mere irresponsibility, for an adversity-hardened Margie, it is just one of the unavoidable realities of a bad luck-cursed life.

Unwilling to take Stevie’s suggestion that she apply for line work at the local Gillette factory, Margie is persuaded by Bingo buddies Dottie and Jean (Mariko Van Kampen and Suzan Solomon) to pay an office visit to a high school boyfriend, one who luck will have it has escaped from “Southie” to a successful medical practice, marriage to a considerably younger literature professor at Boston University, a five-year-old daughter, and an elegant home in the posh neighborhood of Chestnut Hill.

When Dr. Mike (Scott Facher) declares himself unable to offer Margie a job (she is, after all, unqualified for any kind of medical office work), his feisty ex-sweetheart wangles an invitation to his upcoming birthday party in hopes that one of the assembled guests might have a line on a possible job.

What transpires when Margie arrives at the suburban manse Mike shares with wife Kate (Charlotte Williams Roberts) will not be revealed here. Suffice it to say that it provides Good People with as edge-of-your-seat a second act as anyone in search of gripping theater could possibly wish for, and plenty to talk about on the way home thanks to several surprise twists Lindsay-Abaire has up his sleeve.

 Along the way, Good People’s blue-collar bingo gals generate more than a few laughs, humor so seamlessly woven into a story of secrets-that-might-not-be-secrets and lies-that-might-not-be-lies that the playwright achieves something akin to life itself.

Director Ann Hearn Tobolowsky elicits one letter-perfect performance after another from a cast led by a never better Blanchard, whose tough, feisty blue-collar Margy reveals occasional heartrending glimpses of the hopeful young woman she once was.

Facher takes fire when the Southie escapee’s carefully cultivated “lace curtain” façade begins to crack, and Roberts, whose revelatory turn in A Raisin In The Sun won her a Star-Making Performance Scenie, is absolutely stunning as a young woman making surprising discoveries about the husband she thought she knew.

Solomon’s Jean, a tough cookie if there ever was one, and a dotty Van Kampen as the appropriately named Dottie, make for the most delightful of bingo companions, and Kerr does solid work as a store manager caught between a rock and a hard place.

Michele Young’s costumes, Derrick McDaniel’s lighting, and Nick Foran’s sound design are all first-rate.

If only the same could be said for Jeff G. Rack’s drab set and a series of time-consuming scene changes that could easily be shortened simply by dividing a conveniently wide stage into separate playing areas where set pieces could remain in the same spots throughout all of Act One. Also, Mike and Kate’s comfortable Chestnut Hill home merits a good deal more set decoration than it’s given.

Milda Dacys and Sherrie Scott are Dottie and Jean alternates. Producer David Hunt Stafford provides the voice of the Bingo Caller. Ernest McDaniel is stage manager. Philip Sokoloff is publicist.

Though its scenic design isn’t up to Theatre 40 standards, Good People delivers the dramatic-comedic goods from start to finish. Its spot-on performances alone make it a production worth adding to your year-end calendar.

Theatre 40, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills. T
www.Theatre40.org

–Steven Stanley
December 11, 2021
Photos: Amir Kojoory

Covid-19 Protocols: All audience members must be fully vaccinated and must present their official vaccination card (photocopy accepted) to the box office person when they arrive at the theater. Audience members must be masked indoors and temperature checks will occur at the box office.

Tags: David Lindsay-Abaire, Los Angeles Theater Review, Theatre 40