If you’re in the mood for something really campy that’s held together with lots of classic oldies and comes with a side of white cake topped with cream cheese frosting and a glass of champagne, then catch a seat at the table of “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding.”
There are still some tickets left for Sunday’s performance of this unique dinner theater experience at Hansen Conference Center at Comcast Arena at Everett events center, which wraps up this weekend.
But remember, if you go, you will become part of the party at this wedding, which is one of the wackiest you’ve ever seen. It’s a true, East Coast Italian affair that absolutely stretches the meaning of cliche to its comedic limits. The festive affair is raucously enhanced by a priest who turns into “Father Happy Hour,” a stripper called Madelyn Monroe, giant champagne bottles dancing to music from the “Nutcracker” and references to Joey Buttafuoco, all topped off with “da boo-fey of love.”
Weddings are good times but “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” is a riot.
This theater phenomenon got its start in Greenwich Village in the 1980s and is today the second-longest running show in off-Broadway history. Besides the audience becoming guests at the interactive wedding, local actors — 20 in this production — also are cast. Four main characters are played by New York actors.
The show begins inside the church. The audience is led in song by Terry Vitale, who is Tina’s cousin and also Sister Albert Maria. The good sister uses a clicker and a whistle to keep the audience on task while singing “Jesus Is Just All Right with Me.” The song is followed by readings, one of which is done by the noticeably miserable and pregnant maid of honor, Connie Macogni, who credits Tina with the kind of womanly skills that puts “flesh on his bone,” which she immediately corrects to “bones.”
Tina Vitale and groom Tony Nunzio then give their vows. It’s quickly clear that both were busy doing other things during high school as they struggled with the line: “This ring is a sign of my love and my fidelity.” That became “my love and my fertility” and also “my love and my futility.”
Then the show spills into the reception hall, where the real hijinks begin. There’s lots of little dramas taking place and, as in any large social gathering, it would be impossible to keep up with who’s after who, who’s fighting with who, who shouldn’t be drinking and who shouldn’t even be there. Let’s just say it’s touch and go whether this wedded union stays joined past dessert.
While all the action is taking place, the wedding singer continues to sing and the audience continues to dance to a suite of classics such as “Love Shack,” “Staying Alive,” “YMCA” and “Dancing Queen.”
One of the most remarkable feats that this cast achieves is staying in character throughout the whole show. And we in the audience are swept along in this ribald ride.
Tina Vitale was played by Janine Molinari, who was one adorable and feisty Staten Island gem wrapped up in white chiffon. Mark Diaz played Tony Nunzio like a big lovable mook.
Other wedding party members gave solid performances, but the man who gave to what must have been an exhausting degree was wedding singer Donny Dulce, as played by director Tony Lauria. Now here’s a man who had to sing for most of a two-hour reception, keep the crowd engaged and, at one point, even had to step in during a fight scene, all the while wearing lime-green pants that must have been sprayed on with an aerosol can. Give this man a towel and a piece of cake.
Reporter Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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