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2928 West 13th St. Ashtabula, Ohio 44004
phone: 440-964-3396 |
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Over the River and Through the Woods:
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Posted: Tuesday, October 15, 2002
by Roger Smith
"Over the River and Through the Woods ........� and that�s about it for resemblance to the picture my mind�s eye sees when I hear the words of that traditional Thanksgiving song. Oh, the play is set in the living and dining rooms of grandparents, but these are stereotyped Italian grandparents who have little else to do except entertain their grandson every Sunday. They could be English grandparents or German or Finnish. If you knew your grandparents, you get the picture.
As luck and playwright Joe Dipietro would have it, there are two sets of Italian grandparents who live near each other and have spent most of their Sunday lives together. Their antics, perhaps, seem funny to us because 1) our grandparents did the same things or 2) we do the same things to/for our children or grandchildren.
Mass cards and provolone and the desire to live the good life sort of sum up the existence of the grandparents as they are presented in this production. Always, eating is good! Mass cards speak for themselves. The good life is working, putting food on the table and making sure that your children have a better life than you. Point made, case closed.
Director Darrell Lowe has certainly combined a wealth of acting talent in �Over the River and Through the Woods� at the Ashtabula Arts Center G. B. Community Theatre. Gary Feiler, as Nick Cristano (recently seen in the �Lend Me a Tenor� at AAC) is convincingly realistic in the role of the grandson who is trying to cut the tightly knotted ties which bind him to his grandparents. Debra Greene-Lowe as Caitlin O�Hare, the bait in the plan the grandparents concoct to keep Nick around, is excellent in the role.
Don Kirsch, an AAC veteran, played the role of Frank Gianelli, the �philosopher� grandfather. Kirsch is a seasoned actor who gives excellent performances, and his portrayal of Frank was consistent with expectations. Rich Werman, as Nunzio Cristano, may have given his finest performance; this character seemed to fit him perfectly.
Whenever I see the name of Linda Fundis or Gloria Benz advertised in a cast, I know the show will be good. These gals set high standards for themselves - and they uphold them. As the two doting grandmothers, Benz and Fundis ( Aida Gianelli-the provolone queen, and Emma Cristano-the Mass card shopper, respectively) were simply delightful, playing off each other and anyone else who happened to be on stage.
Written in 1999, this show has the potential to be filed away with �Arsenic and Old Lace� and �Harvey� and pulled out for display when
audiences need to go back to something simple and substantial. The blurbs for this play promised fun, and the actors delivered. This
production is well worth seeing for its ethnic family values, for lessons we can learn, and for the laughs which punctuate the script.
�Over the River and Through the Woods� continues at the Ashtabula Arts Center tonight and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2.
The box office phone number is 440-964-3396.
Do yourself a favor - make the call.
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Food, Faith and Family Values Govern "Over the River and Through the Woods":
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Posted: Friday, October 11, 2002
If you were offered the job of a lifetime in a city 1,000 miles away, would your family support your decision to move, or attempt to stand in your way?
Unfortunately, the latter is true for marketing executive Nick Christano in the hilarious and heartwarming comedy �Over the River and Through the Woods,� opening October 11 at G.B. Community Theatre.
As an Italian-American bachelor living in Hoboken, New Jersey, Nick dutifully visits his four loveable - although sometimes annoying - grandparents every Sunday for dinners governed by �the three F�s� - family, faith and food. This has been a routine ever since Nick�s parents retired and moved to Florida. The grandparents are stereotypically perfect - one grandmother always believes that everyone looks hungry, or that food must be available during all major announcements; a grandfather will not accept the fact that he should not be driving anymore, even though he mistakes reverse gear for drive and is constantly running into things; grandma Emma is always giving out mass cards to her grandson ("They're going to have to name the church after me soon," says Nick); every window in the grandparents' house is perpetually closed tight - even on 90 degree days in June, because, as grandpa Frank says, "the air conditioner doesn't run before the 4th of July!".
 But even with all of their quirks, Nick loves his family and enjoys spending time with them ... to an extent. He is content to come over every Sunday for dinner with his family, but, other than that, he does not spend much time with them.
And then one week Nick arrives with news for the grandparents: he�s been offered a promotion within his company, and taking the job means he must move across the country to Seattle. While Nick is excited about the prospect of a new job and new life on the opposite coast, his grandparents certainly make no secret of the fact that they do not approve of his deserting his family to pursue his career. The four of them - Frank, Aida, Nunzio and Emma - decide to band together and stop at nothing to keep their grandson close to home. They even go so far as to employing a "secret weapon" - inviting the lovely (not to mention single!) daughter of Emma's canasta partner, Catilin O�Hare, to a Sunday dinner in an attempt to set her up with Nick. Will Nick stay in New Jersey and settle down with Caitlin? Or will he leave anyway to pursue his career?
 Gary Feiler will be featured in the role of Nick, and Debra Greene-Lowe will play Caitlin. The roles of the grandparents will be filled by Don Kirsch, Gloria Benz, Linda Fundis and Rick Werman.
Written by Joe DiPietro, also the author of the hilarious long running musical revue �I Love You, You�re Perfect, Now Change,� �Over the River� features characters which are said to be based loosely on DiPietro�s own grandparents, although he says that the plot is completely fictional. The attitudes of the grandparents are said to reflect a generation in which family and home is the central part of life, and work is something you do just as a means to provide for them.
According to Darrell Lowe, AAC Theater Coordinator and director of �Over the River and Through the Woods,� anyone who enjoys the type of comedy presented on the television show �Everyone Loves Raymond� will especially like this play, as the situations and conversations resemble those used on the show.
�The script takes on the humor on a TV sitcom at times, but it works on the stage as well,� says Lowe. �It reminds me at times of �Everyone Loves Raymond,� but with two sets of grandparents. But it doesn�t try as hard as TV scripts for humor. This is not the normal family encountering normal problems. The generational gap and the priorities of each are the root of all the disagreements.�
Lowe also points out that the show is not all laughs, as some emotional moments will be presented as well.
�Obviously, by the title taken from the old song, this play is about visiting grandparents,� says Lowe. �It�s a delightful, realistic piece that looks at family, love, understanding and letting go.
�There are some touching and surprising moments. Hopefully, if the ensemble does a good job, there will be some moist moments for audience members as well.�
�Over the River and Through the Woods� will run October 11-13 and 17-20. Curtain is 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays.
In addition, a special dinner will be served prior to the show on Saturday, October 19. The dinner will be prepared by Angie Gasch, and the menu will include confetti salad with italian dressing, potato and corn chowder, sweet & tangy chicken with rice, rolls and butter, and an apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Cost of the dinner is $12, plus the price of the theater ticket, and reservations must be made no later than noon on Thursday, October 17.
Tickets for �Over the River and Through the Woods� are on sale now, and may be reserved by calling the Arts Center.
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