Everyone sees the inevitable changes in their lives differently. Some people think change isn’t a bad thing, while some think it’s the end of the world. For the Gianelli family in Over the River and Through the Woods, change can be embarrassingly funny, surprisingly heart wrenching, and emotionally raw.
Presented by Lompoc Civic Theatre, the show had been on longtime volunteer and director Christine Jeszeck’s mind for quite a while. She’d been kicking around the idea of directing it for nearly four years before she actually brought it to the stage.
“I first read the script a few years ago and thought it would be great to bring it to Lompoc,” Jeszeck said. “I am very pleased with the cast; it’s a family-oriented show, so it brings a nice message, and it has every element to be a good story.”
This comic drama, written by Joe DiPietro, focuses on an Italian-American family, with members who just might be the loudest people you’ll ever meet. Tightly knit and passionately family oriented, the Gianellis live by one motto: “tengo famiglia,” which means “I support a family.”
Despite the fact that the house is always sweltering hot in Hoboken, N.J., Nick Cristano (Daryl Garbiso) shows up on his grandparents’ doorstep every Sunday evening for dinner. He does this without fail for more than 20 years, so chaos ensues when he announces big news one night: a promotion that will take him across the country to Seattle, Wash.
“I know where Seattle is. It’s not the close Washington,” says his grandfather, Nunzio Cristano (played by Kevin Cousineau). “The far-away Washington, the one next to California.”
So what does every normal couple do when learning their precious grandson will soon be packing his bags and leaving behind those who love him?
The Gianellis concoct a scheme to prevent him from stepping onto that plane.
The audience laughed warmly when they realized Grandma Emma Cristano thought that, by setting up a blind date with a lovely vegetarian girl, Caitlin O’Hare (Ryan Garner), her grandson would fall hopelessly in love and reconsider his decision to leave.
“What’s a vegetarian?” Grandpa Cristano asks.
“An animal doctor!” Grandma Emma Cristano (played by Anita Dwyer) replies with glee.
One can’t help but fall in love (though some wouldn’t care to admit it) with the two loony and wacky sets of grandparents. Amid the hilarious dialogue and discombobulating logic lurks one topic perhaps every family has to tackle at some point: the young finally growing wings and leaving the nest.
Generations of grandparents and parents worked hard and sacrificed dreams and money in the hopes of a better future for their next generation and their families. The “tengo famiglia” concept is harder for more modern minds to grasp.
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“I resented my dad for not getting me the toy I wanted when I was young,” Grandpa Frank Gianelli (played by Scott Swisher) tells Nick, “but then I realized that it wasn’t because he didn’t want to buy it for me. It was because he couldn’t. We barely had money to put food on the table during the holidays.”
The older generation’s world revolved around their families, whether it was building a house brick by brick or saving up money to buy a car stable enough to not break down. The concept of family and home was the core of their lives. While a job was simply a means of supporting loved ones—not a reason to drop everything and move to the other side of the country.
Daryl Garbiso gives the audience a glimpse of Nick’s feelings by revealing his frustrations and annoyances with his family through incessant hair-grabbing and eye-rolling, a convincing combination for anyone infuriated with blind date set-ups and guilt-ridden conversations. One feels for Garner, caught in the scheme as a beautiful “animal nurse,” but revealing a natural “good-girl” image despite the circumstances.
Marian Stave is hilarious as the hovering grandma Aida Gianelli, who can tell if someone “looks” hungry and is always on the move to make a nice sandwich or a large cheese platter. To her, any problem can be solved with a full stomach. Swisher plays a more subdued grandpa, but not without impeccable comedic timing.
One look at Dwyer reveals her ability to come up with a scheme underneath the innocent façade of a loving and happy grandmother. And with Cousineau as her other half, they’re the perfect couple with a great dynamic, witty banter, and smart remarks.
The set construction was organized by Brent Gilmore and Jeszeck, with lights by Sarah Barthel and Stephanie Burleigh and sound by Amy Schaub and Patrick Kinoshita.
Catherine Shen prefers going through the river. Send comments to Arts Editor Shelly Cone at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2011.