New York 'Wedding' to tie knot on Maui
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
| • | 'Tony n' Tina's Wedding'
An off-Broadway musical 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, beginning Nov. 1 Hyatt Regency Maui at Ka'anapali $76 (808) 661-1234 Auditions: 2-6 p.m. Saturday Diamond Head Theatre 733-0277; MauiTNT!@aol.com |
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The interactive production puts the audience in the middle of two New York Italian families, the Nunzios and the Vitalies, as a daughter and a son get married and hold a celebratory dinner. Think "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" interpreted with the prevailing Italian flavor but nourished with a Hawaiian cast and setting endorsed by creator Nancy Cassaro.
"We just thought that Maui was a special place for the show," said Jeff Gitlin, one of the producers.
Gitlin and his team, not affiliated with the still-running off-Broadway production in New York, produced a 'Tony n' Tina's Wedding' show at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and thought they could move the franchise to Hawai'i.
The original Vegas show's director, Larry Pellegrini, will come to Hawai'i to oversee a casting call. "We're looking to hire a stage manager, a general manager, as well as actors for the production; we want to make it exclusively Hawaiian," said Gitlin. An indefinite run is anticipated, with rehearsals beginning Oct. 20.
Earlier staged in Honolulu at the Manoa Valley Theatre, "Tony n' Tina's Wedding" derives much of its fun from its unpredictability, because actors are indistinguishable from guests. The show is considered to be "environmental theater," because the audience partakes of an Italian dinner, a champagne toast, wedding cake and dance music.
The quirky cast requires a headstrong Tina in her 20s and a handsomely rowdy Tony. Other characters include Connie, the pregnant maid of honor; Father Mark, the priest whose drunkenness becomes more evident as the party unfolds; several bridesmaids and groomsmen, mother of the bride, father of the groom, a nun who can sing, a brother who's gay, a stripper and a band singer.
