Funny family feud fuels ‘Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding’ at Rio

Friday, Feb. 22, 2002 | 11:22 a.m.

"Tony n' Tina's Wedding" is dinner theater at its best -- a smoothly constructed comedy that draws the audience into the soap-opera lives of two New York families at a wedding and reception that teeters on the brink of disaster.

I'm tempted to say that the main items on the menu at the Rio's Calypso Room are cheese and corn -- there's a healthy serving of both during the nearly two-hour performance that starts slowly, with the arrival of the Nunzio and Vitale families, and builds to a frenzied pace.

The production, which has been an off-Broadway sensation for 15 years, eloped to Las Vegas in January and has been playing to enthusiastic crowds -- numbering about 190 at a show caught earlier this week -- eager to join in the festivities, which includes lots of audience-participation dancing.

"Tony n' Tina's Wedding" is a fusion of "Romeo and Juliet," "The Hatfields and McCoys" and "Saturday Night Fever," perhaps with a bit of Billy Bob Thornton sensibility mixed in for good measure.

The theatrics begin before the audience even enters the theater, with cast members (who never break character throughout the evening) talking to ticket holders as if they are friends and relatives of one of the two feuding clans drawn together by two star-crossed lovers.

Once inside and seated, the audience is slowly introduced to members of the families as they arrive and take their seats in the middle of the theater, which serves as a wedding chapel, dance floor and reception hall.

The roles are perfectly cast, with Tina portrayed by Jennifer Marie Alaimo and Tony by John Lombardo.

Alaimo is a cute, petite ingenue whose sweet exterior is a cover for a tough broad we know will be able to hold her own against her new husband, a brash New Yorker whose attitude she will adjust when the nuptials are over and the guests go home.

Lisa Boggio is the bored maid of honor who appears to be 10-months pregnant and has false labor pains during a rigorous dance scene.

Judi Veitz, playing the bride's mother, is every husband's worst nightmare -- the mother-in-law from hell. Damon Heath Sager plays the bride's gay brother, who is verbally abused by the groom's macho father, Anthony Nunzio (portrayed by Paul Corti), throughout the evening.

There is an army of supporting characters in this ensemble production, among them a young nun who discovers she loves to dance, an alcoholic priest and Anthony Nunzio's ditzy red-headed, long-legged, big-breasted showgirl girlfriend Madeline Monroe (portrayed lustily by T.J. Thompson).

A personal favorite was the sleeze-ball wedding photographer, Sal Antonucci (portrayed by Len Talarico), who had the repugnant habit of snorting to clear his nose and throat as he walked around the room snapping pictures of the dysfunctional families.

I eagerly await the penning of the next play -- "Tony 'n' Tina's Divorce."