My Big Gay Italian Wedding
| My Big Gay Italian Wedding | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Anthony J. Wilkinson |
| Date premiered | November 14, 2003 |
| Place premiered | Actor's Playhouse New York City |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Same-sex marriage |
| Official site | |
My Big Gay Italian Wedding is a play written by Anthony J. Wilkinson that includes original music and lyrics written by David Boyd. It premiered off-Broadway in 2003 at the Actor's Playhouse in New York City.[1] In September 2009, a revised version produced by Dina Manzo of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New Jersey and co-starring Scott Evans played a benefit performance at the St. George Theatre in Staten Island;[2] the play then opened with a new cast that included Reichen Lehmkuhl in May 2010 at the St. Luke's Theatre on West 46th Street for an open-ended run that will conclude in 2011 on 8/20.[3][4] As of November 2012, My Big Gay Italian Wedding is currently running Saturdays at 8pm at the St. Luke's Theatre in an open ended run with the current cast below. Tickets can be purchased at Telecharge.com. There is also a Los Angeles and UK production running currently.
Contents
Synopsis
My Big Gay Italian Wedding satirizes the controversies surrounding same-sex marriage as well as gay and Italian stereotypes. Anthony Pinnunziato, a gay Italian-American from a large chaotic family, wishes to marry his boyfriend Andrew Polinski in a traditional Italian ceremony. Anthony's overbearing mother won't give her blessing unless Andrew's estranged mother also gives her blessing and the ceremony is performed by a priest. Matters are further complicated by Andrew's ex-boyfriend, intent on breaking up the couple.
Production history
My Big Gay Italian Wedding premiered at the Actor's Playhouse in November 2003, where it played in repertory with the musical Naked Boys Singing. It was directed by Peter Rapanaro and featured a costume design by Chris March of Bravo's reality television series Project Runway. The production moved to Theatre Four on West 55th Street in Manhattan where it played for 38 weeks with a new cast that included James Getzlaff, star of the Bravo reality series Boy Meets Boy.[5]
On September 12, 2009, a revised and updated version of the play played a benefit performance at the St. George Theatre in Staten Island; the new production was produced by Dina Manzo of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and starred Wilkinson and Scott Evans of the ABC soap opera One Life to Live.[6] It was directed by Teresa A. Cicala and included new choreography by J. Austin Eyer. The production moved to an open-ended run at the St. Luke's Theatre in Manhattan in May 2010, adding as co-star Reichen Lehmkuhl of CBS TV's The Amazing Race. In July 2010, Daniel Robinson, veteran of Broadway Bares, Hairspray and the 2009 film The Big Gay Musical joined Wilkinson on stage until November 2010.[7]
On August 2, 2010, it was announced that Real Housewives of New Jersey cast members Teresa Giudice, Caroline Manzo, Lauren Manzo, Jacqueline Laurita and Ashley Holmes would step in as cast members for one week in September.[8] After sold-out performances, the Housewives signed up to repeat their guest appearances on October 20 to 23rd, 2010 resulting in another successful, sold-out run.
Dr. Joy Browne joined the cast for three performances, September 30 to October 2, 2010.[9]
Following Robinson's departure, the role of Andrew was taken up by David Moretti, star of here! TV's The Lair on November 18, 2010, the same day as the show's 100th performance. The show rang in its milestone performance with special guests Ilene Kristen from One Life to Live and Claire Buffie, the reigning 2010 Miss New York, who's platform is marriage equality. BRAVO's Tabatha Coffey was a special guest in the show for a full weekend December 2-4th 2010. Other guests during this period included Lance Bass and Vincent Pastore.
In January 2011, Marty Thomas joined the cast as Andrew, replacing David Moretti. Ilene Kristen, previously a special guest in the show, also joined the cast as Aunt Toniann. This provided the set up for MBGIW's first Soap Week! For one weekend March 17–19, 2011 Ilene Kristen was joined on stage by Ellen Dolan (As the World Turns), Brittany Underwood (One Life to Live), Kristen Alderson (One Life to Live), and Marnie Schulenberg (As the World Turns). The soap divas took over all the female roles in the play for the weekend.
On March 31, 2011 recording artist Kim Sozzi (http://www.kimsozzi.com) took over duties as Aunt Toniann for Ilene Kristen. She will be occupying the role until May 28, 2011. In something new for the role, Kim as Aunt Toniann now performs the original song "Italian Booty Shake" live during the wedding reception in Act II of the play.
In May 2011, My Big Gay Italian Wedding will be celebrating one full year Off-Broadway at St. Luke's Theater.
In June 2011, the show celebrated Gay Pride Month by alternating drag queens in the role of Rodney each week. The drag queens included Hedda Lettuce and RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Mimi Imfurst and Stacy Layne Matthews.[10]
In August 2011, My Big Gay Italian Wedding will make its European debut playing at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[4] The production will be directed by Paul Taylor-Mills and will transfer to The White Bear in London following its Edinburgh run.
In September 2012 it debuted in Asia in Hong Kong, directed by Wendy Herbert at The Hong Kong Fringe Club.
My Big Gay Italian Wedding is currently running Saturdays at 8pm at the St. Luke's Theatre in an open ended run with the current cast. Tickets can be purchased at Telecharge.com.
There is also a Los Angeles and UK production running currently.
The Higher the Hair, the Closer to God Contest
Tabatha Coffey returned to My Big Gay Italian Wedding March 3–5, 2011 as a special guest in the show, similar to her run in December.
Tabatha's appearance also coincided with My Big Gay Italian Wedding's "The Higher the Hair, the Closer to God" Hair Salon contest! That is no coincidence, as she was to be one of the Official Judges for the Semi-Finals alongside Dina Manzo of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Elvis Duran of Z100 on March 6, the day after her final performance.
The Hair Salon Contest was open to all Salon owners and employees in the greater NY area, with 100+ participating. Contestants were to create a new, innovative, modern, high, BIG, trendy hair style/theme to be used in My Big Gay Italian Wedding. Think the 1980s meets 2011! Photo and Video Submissions were accepted up until the deadline on February 27. From there, on March 6 at Rab's Country Lanes in Staten Island, New York, 30 semi-finalists were chosen to participate in a runway style, walk-off judged by Tabatha, Dina, and Elvis. The remaining twelve finalist pairs (hairdresser and model) were assigned their own date in the show for a walk-on role, to be voted on by the audience. The winning hairdresser will be awarded $5000, a full-page ad for their salon in the playbill, and their new hair style featured in My Big Gay Italian Wedding for all to see! The finals are still ongoing, with walk-on roles scheduled every Thursday/Friday and will wrap up on May 13, 2011 with a winner announced soon after.
Cast
The current cast includes:
- Dan Amboyer– Andrew
- Drew Little – Anthony
- Josh Grisetti – Maurizio
- Lainie Kazan – Angela
- Peter Gregus – Joseph
- Marissa Rosen – Maria
- Rosie Lopez – Aunt Toniann
- Josh Segarra – Gregorio
- Liz Gerecitano – Lucia
- Meagan Robar – Connie
- Michael Hull – Mario
- Josh Drake – Frankie
- Marti Gould Cummings – Rodney
- Jefferson Mays – Father Rosalia
- Jonathan Weiner – Ensemble
- Marie Fontane – Ensemble
Cast recording
A recording featuring Boyd's original songs was made available on iTunes in July, 2010. In March 2011, Marty Thomas, along with David J. Boyd, recorded an updated version of the original track "Love Conquers All" which is now featured and sung by Marty in the show during curtain call.
References
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- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "My Big Gay Italian Wedding Will Close in August", Andrew Gans. Playbill. 14 july 2011. Retrieved 7 aug 2011
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