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Peer Reviews Viva la famiglia! Over the River and Through the Woods By Joe DiPietro Reviewed by Cristina Martin Entire contents copyright © 2009, Cristina Martin. All rights reserved.
I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. Throughout Little Colonel Players' production of Over the River and Through the Woods, one question kept coming back: How on earth did they manage to transport my great-aunt's living room from Chicago to Pewee Valley, let alone a bunch of my Italian-American relatives I've apparently never met before? Joe DiPietro's characterization and dialogue, coupled with Greg and Debbie Tudor's deft direction and picture-perfect set, transport audiences into the heart of the lives of Nick Cristano (Ernie Washington) and his family. His parents and sister having moved away, Nick and his grandparents, Frank and Aida Gianelli (Bob and Betty Zielinski) and Nunzio and Emma Cristano (Rich Williams and Sharon Cardwell), are the only ones of the clan left in 1980's Hoboken, NJ. The elder couples live for family, faith and food, as Nick puts it. They look forward to his sharing Sunday dinner with them each week — indeed expect it, for it's inconceivable that he wouldn't want to partake of Aida's wonderful meals, prepared with love for those who "look hungry" (which, according to her, is just about everyone all the time). The proper place for Nick is with his family, who has his best interests at heart. They pray and wish sincerely for his happiness, and in their minds, this consists of finding a nice girl, getting married, and settling down in the neighborhood as they did all those many years ago. Nick, however, has been offered a promotion in Seattle. The grandparents are up in arms at the thought of his moving away and cook up a scheme to get him to stay. Naturally, the plan involves some matchmaking: an eligible young woman by the name of Caitlin O'Hare (Tiffany Smith) is invited to dinner the following Sunday, and Frank, Aida, Nunzio and Emma hope for the best. Instead of the usual actors' bios, the show's program contains background information about each character, often very colorfully imagined. I loved the fact that it helped us get to know them even before the show began and blurred the line between the actors and those they represent. The references to the play in each blurb are even funnier once one is familiar with the show. And as for the bios of the directors, who knows where truth ends and fiction begins?? Judging from their demonstrated understanding of Italian-Americans, I can well believe Debbie Tudor was once a freelance writer who studied the Italian community of Hoboken. (That living room just couldn't be more authentic, from the window dressings to the pictures on the walls, from the bowl of artificial grapes on a shelf to the crucifix with palm fronds tucked behind it!) But is "Greg 'the Eraser' Tudorgiamo" really the Tony Soprano of Hoboken grocers, who earned his nickname by rubbing out his rivals? It's fun to think so. Many people will recognize echoes of their own relatives (be they Italian-American or otherwise) in the boisterous banter and outsize emotionality of DiPietro's characters. Even for those who haven't known dynamics exactly like these, there is something appealing about the lack of pretense, the passion for living, the sociability, and the fierce underlying love of these people for each other. Tengo famiglia is a pervasive refrain to which Frank first introduces us; it's Italian for "I hold onto (my) family," but it means so much more. It implies that my purpose in life is to support my family, in whom I have the utmost pride; they are my reason for being, that which establishes my status in society and that for which I would sacrifice anything. (Note: In the program, the phrase is written tengo familia. While this is essentially a phonetic rendition of the phrase — the g is silent — and might well be the way it appears in the script in order to ensure proper pronunciation, it is actually Spanish for "I have family," as in "Tengo familia en Argentina..." Similar, but not the same. Ah, those romance languages.) The Gianellis and the Cristanos are profoundly loving, but they're not saints, after all, and neither is Nick. DiPietro's good-natured portrayal of his grandparents' foibles (e.g., their stubborn pride, their sometimes preposterously old-fashioned views, their sheer loudness) gives rise to many laughs while also making it clear why they drive Nick nuts. He's embarrassed beyond belief at their lack of subtlety during his initial meeting with Caitlin. "So, Nick, say something attractive to Caitlin!" encourages Emma hilariously. When Nunzio offers Caitlin some alcohol, reasoning that after all, she's Irish, Nick is mortified. "What — the Irish like to drink, that's a big secret?" Nunzio asks uncomprehendingly. Tact is not exactly the strong suit around here. But beyond the laughs, there's a poignant message. A fundamental generation gap exists here, a difference in outlook borne of different experiences and different opportunities. It goes beyond the grandparents' not being able to appreciate Nick's gifts of newfangled gadgets in the way he hopes they will (of a VCR, Emma says, "It's just too expensive — we can't enjoy it!); rather, it has to do with what makes for a fulfilling life. Nick is in marketing, and when he tries to explain his job to his family, they're baffled. Nunzio speaks for them all, though, when he says heartily, "Whatever the hell it is you do, we're damn proud of you!" In the same way, whatever Nick decides to do with his life ultimately, what matters is whether it truly makes him happy. Even if they can't understand how it could, his grandparents are happy for him. The entire cast of Over the River and Through the Woods does a very good job at making these characters come alive and making us love them, warts and all. As Caitlin, Tiffany Smith is just the right combination of insecure and self-possessed, and she does an excellent job of putting on a brave face at dinner, never losing her composure amidst her rather outrageous hosts. Rich Williams plays the more irascible of the two grandfathers well, letting Nunzio's softer side peek through as the play develops. Bob Zielinski's Frank clearly adores Aida, who, in Betty Zielinski's interpretation, is endearingly modest and warm. Frank is the only one of the group who clearly lived in Italy until the age of fourteen, but his Italian accent fades in and out rather unconvincingly. The others have opted for pure Hoboken, a good choice. As the more outspoken grandmother, Sharon Cardwell embodies Emma's vibrant personality, filling the stage impressively with her voice and her presence. Like the other characters, Nick is well cast. Ernie Washington throws his all into the role and brings out Nick's frustration and bravado effectively. His tone, particularly toward the beginning of the play, tends to be unremittingly strident, however, a bit too uniformly angry. True, Caitlin is appalled at the way he yells at his family and tells him he behaves like an "#%!hole," which does go a long way toward justifying his manner. But there's a difference between anger and passion. The charm of demonstrative cultures lies in their taste for unfettered expression of all sorts, in their joy at simply expressing, which is affirmation that they are alive. This goes beyond just being loud and is not always easy to convey. With a little more variability in volume and tone, all of the actors could bring more depth to their exuberance. Washington does an outstanding job of conveying Nick's sadness toward the end; even greater modulation of his voice would underscore the tender lessons he has learned. Throughout the play, as she is about to serve a meal, Aida is especially fond of saying, "Everything came beautiful" — an expression that means the food all turned out well. Looking at the job Little Colonel has done preparing this delectable production, the same can be said.
Over the River and Through the Woods The Little Colonel Players
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