Tony n Tina's Wedding is a comedy performance that is dubbed as an environmental theater event, one of the best of its kind. It is written by Artificial Intelligence, a comedy troupe, and its main characters are Anthony Nunzio Jr. and Valentina Lynne Vitale Jr. It first premiered in 1988 in New York City and hold’s the record for being the longest running Off-Broadway show. This show follows an Italian American wedding with the audience being part of the wedding reception. It is therefore an interactive comedy that also engages the guest present who invite themselves through Tony n Tina's Wedding tickets.
Tony n Tina's Wedding features an Italian American wedding complete with a reception that plays upon the stereotypes of such weddings. The improvisational comedy cast treats the members of the audience as guests and thus interacts with them. The very first performance of this comedy took place at the American Legion Hall located on West 14th Street in 1985. It then opened on Off-Broadway in two venues; the wedding took place at the Washington Square United Methodist Church located in Greenwich Village and the reception took place at the Carmelita’s reception Hall on East 14th Street. Over the course of the many years, this comedy has been performed at St. John’s Lutheran Church, St. Luke’s Theatre, the Edison Hotel and Sweet Caroline’s.
Tony n Tina's Wedding has been performed continuously for twenty two years and has also been held in many other cities and countries of the world; a hundred cities in all. This includes countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan. In the US and Canada, performances have been staged in Las Vegas, New York City, Vancouver, Toronto, Detroit, Montreal, Dallas, San Francisco, Orland and Chicago. Its original cast starred a number of renowned actors and actresses including Monica Horan, Jennifer Heftler, Eli Ganias, Joe Corcoran and Phil Rosenthal. It was originally produced by Joe Corcoran and Dan Corcoran, two graduates of the Hofstra University who were just beginning their careers on Wall Street but instead started working on this comedy.
These two then began working on Tony n Tina's Wedding with the actors portraying Tony and Tina, Nancy Cassaro and Mark Nasser being undergraduates at the time. They then began working through improv and building up their roles. A production of the show then took place and it attracted massive media attention by the likes of the People Magazine, The New York Times and the Times magazine. Internationally, over a hundred media newspapers and magazines caught on to the show and gave it rave reviews with the new concept of creating an environment where audiences could eat, drink and dance while interacting with characters of the play at the same time.
In 2007, a movie version of Tony n Tina's Wedding premiered in theaters across the US for a limited run. It was directed by Roger Paradiso and produced by Tony Travis, Mark Lipsky and Michael Tadross. It starred Joey McIntyre, Adrian Grenier and Mila Kunis. It was first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2004 and follows the view of a lisping videographer present at the wedding. It was also reviewed in the media by Slant Magazine and The New York Times.
With a film adaptation to its name and being the longest running Off-Broadway show, Tony n Tina's Wedding is definitely a must see for an Italian American wedding in which the members of the cast interact with the audience and the audience is actually part of the play. It is an experience bound to amaze provided that you book Tony n Tina's Wedding tickets beforehand.
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