Poignant Comedy Well Done by RRHS

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer

Family relationships, career opportunities, romantic issues, growing up and growing older—all are major plot elements in “Over the River and Through the Woods,” an insightful comedy-drama by Joe DiPietro (who also wrote the popular “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change”). The play just finished a very successful four-day run in Grand Forks, put on by the Red River High School Department of Fine Arts.

“Over the River and Through the Woods” is a recent show, written in the mid-1990s, performed off-Broadway, and published in 1999. It’s set in an Italian neighborhood of Brooklyn during the mid-1980s and takes place in the apartment of Frank and Aida Gianelli, an elderly but spry couple whose grandson Nick Cristano and Nick’s other grandparents, Nunzio and Emma, all meet for Sunday dinner each week. It’s a ritual as familiar to them as going to church.

Nick is an unmarried rising young professional whose parents and sister have all moved to other cities, leaving him to deal with two sets of doting grandparents who would like nothing more than for him to get married and settle down. In Brooklyn. So when he mentions a promotion to a Seattle branch, they invite an attractive young and unmarried daughter of a friend to dinner.

Walter Criswell did a good job of pulling the show together as Nick, both with his credible New York accent and portraying the emotional conflict of desire to be free of family interference, yet not wanting to disappoint them. Rose Dennis was perfect as Caitlin O’Hare, the embarrassed outsider who really would like to get married but isn’t sure Nick is the one.

The most impressive performances, however, were from Jen Regimbal and Luke Hoplin as Emma and Nunzio Cristano, and Cody Gerszewski and Haley Larson as Frank and Aida Gianelli. It was really hard to believe that teenagers were playing these characters in their 70s and 80s, as they all had down the vocal cadences and physical movements of elderly relatives to a T.

Of course, DiPietro’s dialogue had a lot to do with it, but under the assured direction of Rich McFarlane, the cast’s interpretations and timing brought the script to life, both its frequent hilarious comedy and its poignant, sometimes tear-jerking dramatic moments. Gerszewski’s delivery of Frank’s life story was among the more memorable.

“Over the River and Through the Woods” is a very funny, yet bittersweet look at what it means to age, to love, to pursue one’s dreams, and most importantly, to mature. It could easily be played as a routine sitcom about a harried yuppie dealing with eccentric and stereotyped old people, but Red River’s production was able to bring out the universal human drama and the individualities of each character. This is the first time the play has been done locally, and it is one that deserves to be added to the canon of regular revivals.

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