Theater Reviews

Oct 11, 2008 - Reno's Bruka Theater presents a poetic and lyric "Italian American Reconciliation"

By Jack Neal

At last a play and production to love without hesitation!

Reno’s Bruka Theatre is presenting playwright John Patrick Shanley’s “Italian American Reconciliation.” The play, subtitled “A Folk Tale of Little Italy,” has wit, charm and poignancy. It’s been directed with loving care by Jim Martin who pulls all elements of theater together for an enchanting ride into theatrical magic. It’s hard to imagine how this choice play could have been re-created in a more distinguished manner.

For those who loved the movie “Moonstruck,” “Italian American Reconciliation” has the same resonance. And for good reason, both are John Patrick Shanley scripts. The play is intimate, just five characters with most scenes played between just two, but it has enormous reach. A small play with operatic intensity, it’s an old-style romance marinated in poetry and music.

Huey Maximilian Bonfligliano wants to win back his former wife, Janice, to rid himself of Janice, the cursed emasculating woman he describes as “a vampire vulture monster fiend.” Once emotionally past Janice, Huey hopes he can really love Teresa, “a nice girl.” To hasten that reality and grease the skids for what Huey hopes will be a terminal reconciliation, he enlists his friend Aldo Scalicki to approach the frighteningly unapproachable Janice. As a kind of modern-day Cyrano, Aldo takes his mission to heart. In a memorable balcony scene drenched in moonlight, Aldo laces his assignment with earthy humor and light dollops of pathos.

Aldo, the teller of this tale about Huey and romance, is love struck and damaged in his own way. He must reconcile with himself about women just as Huey must rid himself of Janice so that he can move on in a loving way. “I love you man to man,” Aldo says to Huey. Thus both begin working out their hostilities in a touching scene of emotional bonding in its most pure, altruistic state.

As Huey, Jorge Hoyos is sublime. Hoyos delivers his lines of ingenuousness as though they were being sung by the great Pavarotti himself. In a tour de force characterization, Scott Beers plays Aldo, the play’s sad, probing buffoon and storyteller with enormous agility and passion.

Sandra Neace is a fabulously engaging Teresa. Her line about Huey, “I really love him to the best of my knowledge,” is utterly revealing. Appearing on a balcony to Puccini’s ecstatic music for the icy princess, Turandot, Holly Natwora provides depth-charge dimension to Janice’s negative persona with twisted takes on life and swift rejoinders to the soul such as, “I’ll cut your heart out.” Janice is an icy princess and Natwora is superb at playing her. In an endearing role, Mary Bennett is exceptional as the very Italian Aunt Mae who dispenses sage advice helping Aldo put his fears of women in perspective.

The three-scene unit-set design by Lewis Zaumeyer and Jim Martin is handsome, especially the moonlit balcony scene, and works perfectly allowing the production to flow as freely as a smooth Italian red wine. David Simpson’s lighting designs, sound designs and technical supervision are perfection. Costumes and props, attributed to the Bruka crew, are right for every occasion.

“Italian American Reconciliation” is a chorus of gallantry in a weary world that needs all the gallantry it can get. It’s a play to be savored. This gripping presentation of a much-too-overlooked major American play is theater at its best.

“Italian American Reconciliation” can be seen October 3, 4, 10 (the performance reviewed) 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25 (2008), at 8 p.m. and October 19 (2008) at 2 p.m., Bruka Theatre, 99 North Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada. Tickets in advance: $18, $16 seniors and students; at the door: $25. For information call 775-323-3221.