Over the River and Through the Woods

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

There’s still time.

Miners Alley Playhouse’s production of Joe Dipietro’s Over The River And Through The Woods is definitely one not to be missed.

Warm, magical, enchanting, realistic, honest, humorous, frustrating, down to earth, and identifiable. For this production that should just be one very long word.

Sue Leiser, Roger Simon, Chris Bleau, Wendy Moore and Bob Moore  in Miner Alley’s production of Over the River and Through the Woods Photo Credit: Richard H. Pegg

Directed by Rick Bernstein, the scrumptious cast brings characters on a page to vibrant, believable life. In all reality, all a review needs to say is: Sue Leiser, Roger L. Simon, and Chris Bleau. You not only have the feeling, you have the picture.

Bob and Wendy Moore, and Emily Norman don’t hurt either.

Pairing Leiser and Simon together on stage is sheer total unadulterated magic. They not only play the roles of Nunzio and Emma Cristano, they are Nunzio and Emma.

Nick’s grandparents, Frank and Aida Gianelli (Bob and Wendy) live in a lovely, elegant, well cared for home in Hoboken, New Jersey. Saturated with the smell of homemade food provide constant aroma of love, life and support.

Richard Pegg’s set design took care to build in the rich homelike quality. You can see it, feel it, and smell it even before the houselights dim.

Bleau engulfs himself into Nick, a single, Italian who has known both sets of grandparents all of his life, but has never met them. Not really. During one of his narrations, if you asked him outright how well he knows his grandparents, he’d roll his eyes, smile a crooked smile sliding in an “all too well”.

It’s a Sunday afternoon, and Nick makes the very familiar Sunday trip to visit his grandparents, which he’s done for 27 years.  It’s an expected Sunday thing to do. Brought up on Family, Food, and Faith, Frank frequently calls out loud enough for the neighbors to hear, “Tengo Familia”.  This time however, he has a special announcement, and he’s nervous, frightfully nervous. He has something serious to tell them, but first Aida has to tell him that Frank can’t drive anymore. Frank grumbles. Yes, it is hot in the house, but the air traditionally doesn’t get turned on until the 4th of July.

Bob Moore (standing) Chris Bleau and Emily Norman in Miner Alley’s production of Over the River and Through the Woods Photo Credit: Richard H. Pegg

Nunzio and Emma arrive (Simon and Leiser). Interruptions flow energetically as a broken water pipe. Nick has to be hungry. What? He ate Chinese food tonight?  Of course he is hungry. Never mind what he says. Feed him. And when is going to settle down? Emma snaps in her loving nagging way, “I want to see you married before I’m dead.” Nagging is just part of their way of life. The deeper the nag, the greater the love for old folks married 60 years. Nick’s parents moved to Ft. Lauderdale and his sister moved to Sane Diego. Nick understands why. A coveted promotion for Nick means moving to Seattle Washington. It takes his grandparents a while to figure out, Nick isn’t talking about the close by Washington. Seattle lies across the country.

Over The River, assumes everyone knows the next line of the wondrous old song, “Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go. The horse knows the way --------. Over The River draws on generational differences, family values, and society’s technological pressures. Emma and Nunzio return the DVD Nick gave them. “It’s too expensive.” Nunsio doesn’t like the answering machine he gave them. ‘People keep yelling at me”.

The grandparents aren’t about to let him slip away. They invite a neighbor girl, a nice girl, Caitlin, (Norman) a vegetarian to Sunday dinner. At the beginning of the run, the night I saw her, she appeared to rush her lines. She had a plane to catch immediately after the show. Plane schedules will cause anyone run their lines. A spark is lit between the two, but not exactly the spark the grandparents wish to ignite. Irritation sets in with Caitlin over Nick. He who has the wonderful opportunity of knowing his two sets of grandparents does nothing but complain. What she wouldn’t have given for that opportunity.

Life plays interesting tricks, even in the mind of a playwright. Illness grabs Nick by the throat. After a few days in the hospital, he becomes Frank and Aida’s guest. Nagging continues, food remains a mainstay, and secrets are shared. Memories of long ago rise to the forefront. Frank plays the banjo. The old couples dance and sing to “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby”.  And Nick sees his grandparents like he has never before seen them. He gets to know them, understand them, and appreciate them, marveling how over the years he never took time to look and see and hear who these people really were and are.

Sue Leiser and Roger Simon in Miner Alley’s production of Over the River and Through the Woods Photo Credit: Richard H. Pegg

So identifiable are the people involved, Over The River will flood memories of other grandparents, other times, like situations. (Old folks are always out of date. Right?). For those of us who never knew our grandparents, except from pictures, the mind floods with curious questions and wonderments. All the while laughing hysterically at times, and gently at others over the antics of four old people clinging to Family, Food, and Faith along side of a young man who wants desperately to spread his wings and “make something of himself”.

Bleau unabashedly reveals the inside-outside of Nick through well-calculated stances, moves, shrugs, and rubber faced expressions. You may not personally know Bleau, but you will know Nick.

Simon and Leiser simply allow Nunzio and Emma to take over and do with them as they see fit. To allow characters to take over and say “Move over” takes faithful, trusting, courage, and these two theatre veterans have it.

Bob Moore provides a side to Frank you want to fall in love with.

On opening night, I wanted to stop the show, and whisper into Wendy Moore’s ear, “you have it, relax and go with the flow”. She had Aida’s personality nailed to the wall, her nagging humor touched a chord, but she was stiff. I have it on good authority the stiffness melted into Miners Alley’s rich atmosphere and the chemistry gurgling between the actors and these charming, poignant characters.

After Norman had no other planes to catch, she allowed Caitlin to take over, the vegetarian horrified over being served veal, biting her way over Nick’s insensitive behavior toward a gift of family she never knew.

“Tengo Familia”

Time is short. Call now for reservations this weekend. You will be glad you did, and you can yell at me later for not getting this posted earlier.

However, if I had, a very different story might have unraveled.

Over The River And Through The Woods
By Joe Dipietro; Directed by Rick Bernstein