Tony n' Tina's Wedding

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Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding is one of the longest-running comedies in American theatrical history. Credited as the originator of the “environmental theatre” craze, Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding stages a traditional Italian-American wedding and reception with the warm and intrusive stereotypes pushed to the limit. Audience members are treated as guests at the wedding by the interactive, improvisational comedy cast.

Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding opened February 14, 1988, in New York City and has expanded its run to over 100 sites worldwide, including cities in Canada, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Contents 1 History 2 Prehistory 3 See also 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] History

The interactive, environmental comedy Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding was the creation of the Artificial Intelligence comedy troupe. Thirteen members share copyrighted authorship: Thomas Michael Allen, James Altuner, Mark Campbell, Nancy Cassaro, Patricia Cregan, Elizabeth Dennehy, Chris Fracchiolla, Jack Fris, Kevin Alexander Leonidas, Mark Nassar, Larry Pellegrini, Sue Varon and Moira Wilson.

Original production was produced by Joe and Dan Corcoran and enjoyed steady word of mouth growth, spawning a handful of productions in other cities. Celebrities such as Frankie Avalon,^[1] soap opera actor Jeff Trachta, Rosa Blasi, radio host Scott Nevins,^[2] American soccer goalie Tony Meola, John Melendez and Allison Norris, wife of Fred Norris (of the The Howard Stern Show), Dick Biondi and New York Mets player Lee Mazzilli have appeared in productions.

Permanent productions of Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding have been hosted in many cities including New York City, Las Vegas, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Detroit, Dallas, Orlando, San Francisco and Chicago.

There are similarities to an earlier, Australian work called "Dimboola", by Jack Hibberd. It surrounds a country wedding in Australia in the 1960s with audience interaction and a breaking of the "fourth wall".

As of May 2006 Tony n' Tina's Wedding on tour is represented exclusively by Mills Entertainment of Ballston Spa, New York.

[edit] Prehistory

The original showcase production premiered November 11, 1985, at an American Legion Hall on West 14th Street. The Birth of the Show The idea for Tony n' Tina's Wedding was originally conceived at Hofstra University while Mark Nasser and Nancy Cassaro (the original Tony n' Tina) were undergraduates. Both in the drama department from 1977-1981 they made up these characters and would often improv with each other, acting out the roles of two Italian boyfriend-girlfriends from Queens, just for fun. As their professional relationship continued (after both moving to New York), after graduating from Hofstra, their characters continued to develop as well. Soon after the idea to present an interactive wedding, where the audience played the guests, was proposed and in 1985, was acted upon. Three performances were planned, actors invited their friends and family, and at this point it became clear to Joe Corcoran that this was an "event "that would appeal to an audience, well beyond traditional theater goers. Well, the rest is history. Joe Corcoran mounted another production of the show, this time for several weeks, where it caught the eye of People Magazine, then The New York Times, Time Magazine, followed by hundreds of media outlets throughout the world that had immediately embraced this simple, yet genius, concept to create a familiar environment where audiences could eat, drink and dance...all while interacting with characters that seemed oh so familiar.

In February 1988 the first commercial production was capitalized and presented by Joe Corcoran and his London based brother Dan on Waverly Place (in Greenwich Village) with the church ceremony taking place at St. John's Church on Christopher Street. As the audience attended the church service, then walked all together, with the cast, across 7th Ave to Waverly Place the show became a fixture of the Greenwich Village neighborhood, running at that location for the first 11 years.

Since opening countless notables have been among the hundreds of actors who are part of the Tony n' Tina "family", including: Lee Mazzilli Tony Meola | Aida Turturro | Sharon Angela | Dan Grimaldi Phil Rosenthal (original priest and Creator of "Everbody Loves Raymond" "Stuttering" John Melendez | Mark Nasser | Kevin Alexander | Nancy Cassaro Domenica Scorcese | Kenny Kramer | Vito Antefuermo | Diego Serrano Patrick O'Neil | Reid Hutchens | Robert Cea | Chrisitine Nagy | Monica Horan Mike Straka | Rob Camiletti

Credits Tony n' Tina's Wedding was originally created in 1988 by (listed alphabetically):

Kevin Alexander | Tom Allen | James Altuner | Elizabeth Dennehy Mark Campbell | Nancy Cassaro | Chris Fracchiolla | Jack Fris Mark Nasser | Patricia Cregan Navarra | Larry Pelligrini Susan Varon | Moira Wilson

[edit] See also

• Joey and Maria's Comedy Italian Wedding
• Joni and Gina's Wedding
• Environmental theater
• Audience participation

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Mills Entertainment
• Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding in Chicago
• Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding in Orlando
• Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding in San Francisco
• Tony ’n’ Tina’s Wedding at the Internet Movie Database
• Tony and Tina
• [1]