Tony ’n Tina’s Wedding, the interactive, semi-improvised dinner theater piece set at an Italian wedding, is set to renew its vows with Chicago beginning in September.
The show, which had a 16-year run in Chicago before a “temporary hiatus” in 2009 became permanent, plans a limited run September 22–December 30. The new staging, directed by former Chicago cast member Paul Stroili, will become a split-venue event: The “wedding” will take place in a real church, Lakeview's Resurrection Lutheran at 3309 N Seminary Ave, with the “reception” down the block at Chicago Theater Works, the space that currently hosts two similar shows in repertory, We Gotta Bingo and Flanagan’s Wake.
The initial announcement for the return of Tony ’n Tina’s, to be produced by the show’s original New York producer Joe Corcoran, doesn’t include a performance schedule, so it’s not immediately clear if one of the other two shows will be bumped. [UPDATE: Flanagan’s Wake will close and We Gotta Bingo will continue on a reduced schedule, but a full performance schedule remains to be determined.] But it is clear that Chicago Theater Works (to be referred to within Tony ’n Tina’s world as “Vinnie Black’s Coliseum”) has become a prime destination for dinner-and-ethnic-humor-based entertainments. The previous production of Tony ’n Tina’s was based at Piper’s Alley, in the space that’s now UP Comedy Club. Tickets and further information will be available at tonylovestina.com.