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Luck


Off-off-Broadway, one-woman show

Location: 59E59 Theaters

I'm not generally a fan of the one-person show. This doesn't mean that they're not without merit, but in the world of theatre I'm going to spend money on, it's not the first ticket I would buy, and this is my personal preference. However, this past weekend I saw Luck, a one-woman show based on the performer's experience as a daughter of a professional gambler, and was pleasantly surprised.

Here's what they say: Based on performer Megan Riordan’s own life as the daughter of an Irish professional gambler in Vegas, Luck powers its way through questions of destiny, free will and faith against a fast paced background of casino “games of chance,” in which audience members are invited to play. A quiz show cross-bred with a Las Vegas-style cocktail party, Luck is chock-full of interrogations, luck rituals, blackjack boot camp, old school Vegas tunes and lots of cheeseballs.

It's not a work of mad genius, but the show is at times clever, engaging, funny, sad, serious, and quite poignant. For the theatre geeks among us, there were lots of blinky lights, audience participation, and multimedia fun, and the show was over before I knew it. One is able to drink in the theatre, always a nice plus, and Ms. Riordan very kindly (and in character, no less!) passed out cheese puffs during the show. She was amazingly energetic, and did a lovely job of carrying us through her madcap adventures.

To recap: a fun, inventive, and sporadically beautiful show at a well-appropriated space, complete with a good glass of wine and some cheese puffs. What more could one want for an evening's entertainment?

(Luck plays at Theatre C at 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, through October 11th. Performances are Tuesday at 7:30pm, Wednesday through Friday at 8:30pm, Saturday at 6:30pm & 9:00pm and Sunday at 3:30 pm & 7:30 pm. Tickets are $25 and are available at ticketcentral.com or by calling 212-279-4200. For more show info visit 59e59.org.)