"We aren't loud; we're passionate!" -- True, that. The six ensemble actors in Joe DiPietro's heartwarming comedy Over the River & Through the Woods ramp up the volume for two "passionate" hours on the Wetumpka Depot stage, as they deliver the goods with clarity, conviction, humor, pathos, and thick New Jersey accents. -- This talented company under Beth Butler's astute direction, entertain from start to finish.
Nicholas [David Shelnutt] serves as the narrator of his own story -- an up-and-coming 29-year old young man who struggles to tell his two sets of Italian-American grandparents that he plans to move away from New Jersey and their Sunday lunchtime rituals [*see note below] in order to advance his career. -- He, as well as other characters, frequently breaks the theatrical fourth wall, thereby conscripting audiences into private thoughts.
We're in the comfortable middle-class home that grandpa Frank [James Ward] built many years ago for his bride Aida [Janie Allred]; and though we only get a glimpse of her kitchen, it is the source of all that food and the love with which it is prepared. -- Also gathering are Nicholas's other grandparents Nunzio [Reagan McLane] and Emma [Jan Roeton]; and later Caitlin [Sarah Smith], brought in by the doting grandparents in a not-at-all-subtle matchmaking ploy to convince Nicholas to stay in New Jersey.
Of course, Nicholas doesn't want to hurt his grandparents, and they do want their grandson to be happy and successful...but old age limitations creep inevitably forward while the "passionate" banter and the eccentricities that provoke our enthusiastic laughter turn more serious.
DiPietro's well-crafted script and the individual and collective talents of the director and the acting ensemble bring distinction to each role, so that audiences insert themselves into the true-to-life depictions on the Depot stage. We believe them always. And it doesn't matter that these are an Italian-American family from the Northeast; they are familiar to us all.
Nostalgic and sentimental as it might be, this rendition of Over the River & Through the Woods avoids its inherent corniness, and gives us a slice of life that celebrates family, traditions, and love as things that matter most.
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* If you've never been to an Italian-Amerian Sunday lunch in New Jersey, here's how it might go: it will last a few hours, and all the family issues are on the table along with the food. (1) on arrival there's wine and nibbles, and loud ["passionate"] welcomes to and from everyone. (2) Then the first course is an antipasto platter of assorted cold salami, prosciutto, and other meats; cheeses, olives, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, peppers, and fruit; more than an appetizer....accompanied by animated conversations amplified by wine; (3) this is followed by pasta that could be lasagna, or manicotti, or baked ziti that the hostess dishes out in huge portions and insists that you have a second helping; there's usually a debate on whose recipe is the best, and the volume increases; (4) then there comes a main course, either a roast turkey with all the trimmings or a beef roast, served family style, and conversations loosen by even more wine consumption -- It is here that family secrets are exposed for everyone's opinion; arguments often ensue at high "passionate" volume; (5) finally it's desert time: huge platters of mixed cannoli, bomboloni, cheese cakes, sfogliatelle, zeppole -- and coffee, over which disagreements are settled and everyone goes home with a sense that they have contributed to making the world a better place.
