Audience gets to take part in Tony n' Tina's Wedding

The audience joins the fun in Tony n' Tina's Wedding. (courtesy photo)

By mal vincent
The Virginian-Pilot

And to think - some girls haven't even been married once.

Laura Giannone is flying in from New York today for her weddings. She will be married eight times this week. In her nearly three-week stay at the Scope Exhibition Hall, she will be married a total of 24 times. Zsa Zsa Gabor and Elizabeth Taylor combined can't even challenge those nuptial numbers.

Of course, none of it is legal.

Giannone is a 26-year-old actress who, to local audiences, will be known as Tina of "Tony n' Tina's Wedding," the interactive, audience participation show that is the first of a daring bid by the city of Norfolk to take over the production of three shows in the aborted 2006-07 Broadway at Chrysler Hall series.

Norfolk stepped in after the sudden shutdown of the production company, Baci Management Inc. of Baltimore, which the city had contracted to run the series for the past five years. Baci filed for bankruptcy last month, leaving an estimated 4,500 subscription ticket holders in limbo.

The other cities that used Baci as their production manager, including Richmond and Baltimore, closed down the remainder of their seasons.

Norfolk officials chose to try to make amends to subscription ticket holders and offer the shows in preparation for contracting a new production company this summer for the 2007-08 season.

Norfolk had proved to be a leading theatrical market with its record sales of almost 97,000 tickets to 2005's "The Lion King."

"Tony n' Tina's Wedding" is a strange show to be riding to the rescue. It is the first in the recent history of the series not to be performed in Chrysler Hall, and it is not a play at all, in ordinary terms. The audience acts as wedding guests at the marriage between Anthony Nunzio and Tina Vitale, including the wedding ceremony, the reception and dancing. The professional actors play the main family members with added local actors playing some wedding guests. Ticket buyers are encouraged to join in conversations with the participants. In fact, it's going to be difficult to tell who is an actor and who is an audience member.

Giannone, speaking from her New York apartment before packing her wash-and-wear wedding gown, admits that she doesn't feel like Joan of Arc riding to the rescue because she knows little or nothing about the local Baci disappearance. She won't even give an opinion on the whereabouts of Nick Litrenta, the longtime manager of Baci, who has been unreachable since his company went bankrupt.

"All I know is it's a good gig," the sassy Giannone said, "and that laughs will cure everything."

She doesn't worry at all about the unpredictability of a show like "Tony n' Tina" in which every night can be different and, seemingly, one nutty "wedding guest" could cause pandemonium.

"It's not for everyone," she said when considering the assignment. "Some actors like a lot of rehearsals and for every move to be planned, but I find that 'Tony n' Tina's Wedding' is controllable. There are certain scenes that have to be played, and they hold it all together. The ad-libbing from the audience can only go so far, and we can always pull it back."

Then there was the night that someone spilled a plate of spaghetti on her wedding gown.

"The wedding, like the show, must go on," she said in painful memory. "There are three wedding dresses. One is always out at the cleaners but, of course, I can't change in the middle of the show."

In real life, she is not married.

"Maybe this show has jinxed me," she lamented.

Asked if she has a boyfriend, she hesitated. "I don't want to mess up any possibilities down there in Norfolk. After all, it's three weeks, and who knows? But, yes, I have to admit, I do have a very nice boyfriend, but I don't think he's coming to Norfolk with me."

As for the actor whom she marries every night: "He's a very professional co-worker and a good friend. Strictly business."

The show opened off-Broadway in 1988, where audiences attended the wedding in a small New York neighborhood church and then walked two blocks to an Italian restaurant for the reception. It is performed nowadays in the Edison Hotel in the Broadway area and has been adapted to venues in more than 100 cities including Japan, Australia and European cities.

Locally, the wedding chapel will be housed in one section of the Exhibition Hall, with the guests moving to dining tables for the reception. The dinner is catered by Sterling's Restaurant, including wedding cake dessert and a champagne toast.

Giannone, who dances with strange men each night (ticket holders, not actors) claims that she has little chance to chow down on the Italian menu.

"The wedding dress is form-fitting, and I can't put on a pound," she moans. She's 5-feet-5 and weighs 115 pounds.

She holds a musical theater degree from Syracuse University and has composed her own music and lyrics for a show called "Sonia, The musical," which has had a workshop tryout and she hopes will someday be produced. She speaks fluent Italian and Polish and specializes in piano and dialects.

Squabbling between the two families and maybe the noisy presence of past Tina suitors may, in fact, interrupt the less-than-idyllic ceremony at any time. Asked what is unique about an Italian wedding, she said, "the closeness of the family and, sometimes, the guilt of everyone."

Don't expect the same kind of elaborate ceremony as the one you saw in "The Godfather."

City officials said that any concerns about going into show business have been offset by ticket sales, with only single tickets remaining for the first week. Week two is nearing a sellout. The best tickets are for the last week. The show runs through May 13.

The series will continue with "Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life," opening in early June and the rescheduled "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," due to arrive in November.