Multi-million dollar lotto ticket shenanigans (Derby Dinner Playhouse)

Love, Lies and the Lottery Written and Directed by Jim Hesselman

A review by Brian Kennedy

Entire contents are copyright © 2025 Brian Kennedy. All rights reserved.

Looking for some sitcom-like entertainment complete with some bawdy humor? Look no further than Love, Lies and the Lottery at Derby Dinner Playhouse. 

Jim Hesselman wrote and directed Love, Lies and the Lottery, featuring family members, friends, and love interests in a midwestern home circa 2005 conspiring with and against each other after the discovery of a multi-million dollar lottery ticket. Along the way, absurd situations happen thanks to plenty of miscommunication, mix-ups of medication, and personal revelations.

There was a lot to like about this Love, Lies and the Lottery, starting with the audience clapping along to 'The Chicken Dance' as the house lights went down. When the stage lights came up, the audience surrounding the theatre in the round-style stage could see a typical furnished single family home with a few U-Haul boxes scattered throughout. 

Peter Svensen (Cary Wiger) owns the house that he is beginning to sell. He is kinda sorta going through a divorce, though his lawyer and best friend Martin (Bill Hanna) is slow with the paperwork. Wiger and Hanna play off each other well, leading to believable rapport between them. 

The show featured plenty of one-liners. Beatrice Svensen (Georgette Kleier), mother of Peter with whom she lives, gets most of them and nails them with sarcastic force. In addition, her utter disdain towards Peter’s sorta ex-wife Rachel (Colette Mattingly) led to the biggest laughs, especially in the first act. 

Meanwhile, Kleier and J.R. Stuart, who played Beatrice’s love interest Alfred Otch, put smiles on people’s faces with their adorable and loveable chemistry. 

Inevitably, the lottery ticket is discovered to be inside the house, and everyone is scheming, especially Rachel. Mattingly played this main antagonist incredibly well. One could metaphorically see the dollar signs in her eyes as Rachel thought of ways to get the lottery winnings for herself, stopping at nothing 

Everyone’s planning in the first act led to the attempt at executing them in the second act. Some plans go exactly how they thought, others go way off track, and it’s all marvelously entertaining. Actors went all in on the one liners and slapstick, even as multiple situations happened at one time. One could feel like they were watching a cross between I Love Lucy and Hot in Cleveland at times. Laughs were well-earned and nonstop throughout the act.

Love, Lies and the Lottery is a well-directed show with plenty of sitcom-style laughs, one-liners, and adult humor. This, along with the tasty buffet that Derby Dinner provides, could make for a great date night, especially as Valentine’s Day draws near.

Love, Lies and the Lottery Derby Dinner Playhouse Jan 08, 2025 - Feb 16, 2025 525 Marriott Drive Clarksville, IN  47129 https://derbydinner.com/show/love-lies-the-lottery/