Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding: reviewvancouver

Tony n' Tina's Wedding
10th Anniversary Celebration

Dates 7, 8, & 9 July 2005, 7pm Venue St Andrew's Wesley Church & Century Plaza Hotel

Reviewer John Jane

Producer Hoarse Raven Theatre Co-directors Tanja Dixon-Warren & Michael Fera

Dolly Scarr as Tina

Last Friday, (8 July) about 150 “guests” (invited and otherwise) witnessed Tony Nunzio and Tina Vitale (Michael Vairo and Dolly Scarr) tie the knot in the side chapel of St Andrew’s Wesley Church. The bride wore a white gown, a pre-requisite for any Italian wedding and arrived fashionably late to walk down the aisle.

Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding has been a staple of Vancouver’s “improv” theatre scene for ten seasons now. The audience is expected to participate in all aspects of the event and, indeed, encouraged to interact with the cast members, who remain in character for the duration of the show. Previous “weddings” have seen people bringing toasters, monogrammed towels, and even lingerie as gifts for the happy couple.

After a comical, yet, primarily reverent ceremony, the action moved next door to the Century Plaza Hotel for the reception that featured a dinner buffet, wedding cake, champagne, and dancing. If the ceremony was deferential due to the restraining element of being in a real church, decorum was totally abandoned at the reception. All the players from the belligerent hostess to the pregnant bridesmaid and the macho groomsmen gave over-the-top performances.

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The food was nothing to write home about, but no one dared mention that to caterer and host, Vinnie Black audaciously played by Jim Crescenzo, one of half a dozen Equity members in this production. Vinnie was gleeful in proclaiming his ‘special ingredient’ – “Amore” – in the food, providing the opportunity to lead the wedding party and all the guests in singing “That’s Amore.”Fans of the television series Da Vinci’s Inquest recognized Crescenzo from his recurring role as Luca.

The evening’s “entertainment” was provided by Las Vegas pair, Donny Dolce and Celeste Romano (Gianni Ceraldi and Irene Karas) singing everyone's favorite wedding tunes like Y.M.C.A. and “Ti Amo” – who hasn’t been to a wedding and seen the bride and groom dance to this song?

Brian Leslie as Father Mark

Tanja Dixon-Warren and Michael Fera, themselves a married couple, maintained a loose grasp on the direction, with the cast given plenty of freedom to improvise their roles. By and large, they did a pretty good job of ad-libbing the basic script according to the sensibilities of the audience. Over the ten years this show has been running, the couple has directed around 500 different actors, many returning to cover different roles.

Sensitive Catholic Italians may not find some of the more bizarre antics very funny, but just about everyone else will have a fun time -- especially, if you go with a good group of friends and an open mind.

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