Review: MAMBO ITALIANO at Westchester Broadway Theatre

ELMSFORD, NY - For their 212th production, the Westchester Broadway Theatre has launched the world premiere of MAMBO ITALIANO, a musical version of the 2003 Canadian comedy-drama independent film directed by Émile Gaudreault. The screenplay was written by Mr. Gaudreault and Steve Galluccio, based on Mr. Galluccio's theatrical play by the same name. Both the play and the film are based on Galluccio's own life and experiences of growing up in Canada with his family of (very) Italian immigrants. Gallucio's other writing credits include the film Surviving My Mother and the Canadian TV series Ciao Bella.

I found it a bit sad that the source material is based on the author’s own experiences in his family of conservative Italian immigrants. The musical version, now set in New Jersey in the year 2000, tells the story of Angelo Barberini, now the “oddball” grandson of Italian immigrants, who shocks his purportedly “eccentric” grandparents Gino and Maria by moving out without getting married and then revealing that he is gay at the end of the first act, finally giving a much needed spark to its slow beginning. At this point, it reminded me of IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU. Angelo has a lovely sister Anna, who deserves a better character arc. In a concurrent storyline, Angelo's police officer boyfriend and childhood best friend grapples with coming out to his own perfectly horrible Sicilian mother Lina. There was very little to laugh at, even for someone who grew up with an Italian grandfather, and for me what wasn’t offensive was simply annoying.

The book for the musical version was written by Jean Cheever (DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS) and Tom Polun (THE TOXIC AVENGER.) Mr. Polun also directed the WBT production. They brought in composer James Olmstead (who will be the associate MD for the upcoming ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME) to write the musical numbers and Omri Schein to provide the lyrics, which were often clunky to my ear. I did like the year 2000 references like Judge Judy and McD’s that I managed to catch.

I wanted so much to hear some pieces that I could star in my program, and “Mambo Italiano” written by Bob Merrill that was simply attached at the end of the show simply couldn’t count. The only original song that I noted as memorable was “Yes Girl” sung by Angelo’s sister. There were scenes that felt disjointed in real time, but made a bit more sense in hindsight, although the dream scene that opened the second act was too much like the Fuma Sarah scene in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF to work. There was also the inclusion of a Jewish woman that felt gratuitous, as did the apparent suicide of Angelo and Anna’s mother. The set design by Steve Loftux (PHANTOM) was serviceable, but didn’t really suggest a busy Italian restaurant to me. I did like the restaurant sign that changed color to suit the scene, however.

I came away feeling sorry for the very talented, almost all Equity member, actors in MAMBO ITALIANO, for they did amazing work with the characters and sang very well. Associate Director Jill Gorrie is credited with the musical staging. While this was not what I expected from the show, there is something exciting about seeing a brand new musical come alive and many in the press night audience seemed to enjoy it.

Joy Hermalyn (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, NBC’s Sound of Music LIVE!) made the most of her role as the Catholic grandmother Maria Barbieri, who cooks the Italian food for Famiglia Italiana Ristorante and fiercely guards her own famiglia. Bill Note, who starred as Tevye in FIDDLER at WBT and won a Connecticut Critic Circle Award for his role as Tony in THE MOST HAPPY FELLA at Goodspeed, played the role of her husband Gino and I wished he had more to do. I loved everything about Alexandra Amadeo Frost’s performance as Anna; she lit up the stage whenever she was on it.

Alex Drost sang and danced beautifully as Angelo in his WBT debut. Diana DiMarzio did the best she could with the role of the awful Lina, the manipulating mother of Nino. The police officer and childhood friend of Angelo was played well by Zach Schanne, who won a CCC Award for his role as Tony in WEST SIDE STORY. Adinah Alexander (original cast of KINKY BOOTS, WEDDING SINGER, WICKED) was a bright spot as Rosa Donelli. Stuart Marland (NEWSIES, PHANTOM at WBT) played a stereotypical Irish priest Father O’Shea and a blubbering judge. In the ensemble were Aaron Patrick Craven, AJ Hunsucker (who was the Mario Lanza-inspired court clerk,) Corey Joseph Masklee (PHANTOM,) Halle Mastoberardino, Mackenzie Rogers and Laura Stracko. These talented actor/dancers played psychiatrists, waiters, bartenders, dancers, tough guys, construction workers, Italian peasants and minor characters.

Kudos to Ryan Edward Wise, the music director who also covered keyboard 1 and sat with the associate conductor Bob Bray (on keyboard 2) and six other musicians in the offstage pit, who had their photo displayed at curtain call. Keith Nielsen did good work on the costumes in his eighth WBT show; as always the wigs were inspired, even the one for the big-haired character Donna. The lighting design of Andrew Gmoser was better in the second act and Mark Zuckerman was in charge of the sound design that I found spotty at times.

MAMBO ITALIANO is onstage at WBT through September 29 in the impressive theatre in Elmsford. In keeping with the Italian theme of the show, the chef added two Italian dishes to the menu, a filling eggplant parmesan and Gino’s lasagna with meat sauce as the show special. My young companion enjoyed his roast prime rib of beef, as he always does. The regular salad was replaced with a Caesar Salad with croutons and shaved Grana cheese and appetizers for an additional charge included cold antipasti, mozzarella and tomato and fried calamari.

Nancy Sasso Janis, writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, posts well over 100 reviews each year. In 2016, her membership in the Connecticut Critics Circle began and her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted not only in the Naugatuck Patch but also on the Patch sites closest to the venue. Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theatre Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417 Check out the NEW CCC Facebook page.

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