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To watch actress Sharon Adair bite into a cannoli is to see a five-act love affair unfold in an instant. First there's the crunch, the eyes darting downward with alarm, her suspicions of this foreign body running high. Then there's the initial skeptical consideration, the lips screwed into an I've-had-better expression. Next comes the swallow, and then an unexpectedly wide smile that gradually grows into a near-orgasmic grin, and then a second more aggressive bite, the cannoli now utterly irresistible. You can’t go
Hoboken againBy Scott Vogel
svogel@starbulletin.comSuch is the drama of Adair's mastication. As it happens, the audience exhibits a similar pattern of reactions to the play Adair is in, "Over the River and Through the Woods," Joe DiPietro's charmer of a comedy now playing at the Manoa Valley Theatre.
It must be admitted at the outset that "Over the River" is little more than a longish sitcom, its tale of intergenerational conflict as sweet and straightforward as, well, a cannoli. But here, as in the past, Manoa Valley demonstrates its ability to hypnotize an audience into believing it's dining at Donato's rather than on Chef Boyardee, thanks to snappy directing (by Betty Burdick) and superlative performances.
While Adair's knack for eating on stage is a gift (she's also a whiz at wiping anisette biscotti from her mouth) it's far from her only one. From the moment she enters as flame-headed Emma, one of four grandparents hell-bent on getting grandson Nick to stay in Hoboken, she's a whirligig of hand-wringing energy. ("I can't help it, I'm a doer," she announces early on, as if we ever thought otherwise.)
Emma, along with her husband Nunzio (John D'Auria) and Nick's other grandparents, Aida and Frank (Lynn Weir and Bill Ogilvie) are set in motion, as is the play, by Nick's revelation that he has been offered a job promotion that necessitates a move to Seattle. His parents having previously decamped to Fort Lauderdale and his sister to San Diego, Nick is the last nongeriatric member of the family still living in the New York area.
The fun here, of course, is in watching the outrageous lengths to which the old folks will go to keep Nick from departing, things like serving up a heavy dollop of guilt during their once-a-week family meals and setting him up on a blind date with a girl Emma met at the supermarket (Lisa Young). But the real pleasure -- as in DiPietro's other hit, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" -- is evidenced by the frequent nods of recognition in the audience.
We all have relatives like Aida, a woman who says "you look hungry" and immediately rushes to fix a mile-high sandwich within five minutes of your arrival. (Weir's delicious comic timing with this line never failed to generate laughs.)
D'Auria, all bobs and weaves, frequently brought down the house too, never more successfully than during a hilariously misbegotten game of Trivial Pursuit. The actor searches so hard and so digressively for answers that the audience bursts into applause when they finally come. D'Auria's Nunzio is a perfect stand-in for all those befuddled types who never let the truth get in the way of an opinion.
And Bill Ogilvie's Frank, the crotchetyest of the crotchety, is a valentine to stubbornness and dishevelment, the omnipresent cardigan always hiked halfway up his back.
With such strong, lovable characters revolving around Nick, this pastry of a play threatens to become a donut, tasty on the periphery and empty in the middle. That's why Joe Abraham, a recent UH-Manoa graduate, is "Over the River's" happiest surprise.
Though relegated to reacting rather than acting much of the time (a la "Everybody Loves Raymond's" Ray Romano, to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance), Abraham consistently plays Nick with devout seriousness, as if this Seattle promotion business were a life and death matter.
It's his deep commitment to the character's dilemma -- he seems to believe in one more layer to Nick than probably exists -- that makes Abraham's performance one of the best by a young actor this season, one that transforms "Over the River" into something more than the laff-fest it frequently threatens to become.
It's a pleasant, satisfying and thoroughly digestible evening of New York theater that was a slam dunk Off Broadway a few seasons back. As long as you keep your expectations in check, it's a cinch you'll find something to love.
"Over the River and Through the Woods"
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 4 p.m. Sundays through Jan. 27Where: Manoa Valley Theatre, 2833 East Manoa Road
Cost: $25
Call: 988-6131
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