| . | 10/13/2009
How To Be A Good Italian Daughter (In Spite of Myself)
By: Wickham Boyle
How To Be A Good Italian Daughter (In Spite of Myself) by Antoinette LaVecchia bowed on Columbus Day at the Cherry Lane’s Studio Theater. In this tiny space, LaVecchia’s in depth work of can be enjoyed by Italians, and others who have had the benefit and aggita of being mothered by an overly involved but compassionate, caring mother. After the effusive curtain call many in the audience could be heard extolling the work, “That was exactly my mother but she was . . . (fill in the blank), Jewish, Greek, African American.”
It is a ubiquitous characteristic of mothers to be fierce and occasionally overbearing and LaVecchia’s one woman show takes us literally from her birth, acted masterfully on a red folding chair, thru a kind of détente with her mother when the story teller is herself a grown woman. In the interim the stage is filled with unpacked boxes that LaVecchia uses to climb and root through to extract props and memories.
Although the piece is only 70 minutes long, at the beginning there is the worry that some of the bits, or gags will go on for too long and could become repetitive, but LaVecchia and director Ted Sod, soon assuage that fear by moving the piece along with an alacrity as the work hits the middle.
LaVecchia has been in many movies and scores of TV and she can sing and move, mime and emote very well. All of this is shown to good advantage by the cyclorama and stage well lit by Traci Klainer and the set by Michael V. Moore, not the filmmaker, allows for simple transitions and a focus on the characters.
We all struggle with whatever messages were implanted early by mothers and it is often liberating to hear, and in this case be a fly on the wall to watch a difficult mother daughter relationship as it evolves and mellows before our very eyes. My Italian mother used to say, “Life is all about food, family and guilt.” That could be the truth for most of us, and it is a great respite to see it played out with aplomb on the stage of the Cherry Lane.
Auguri and brava
The Cherry Lane Studio Theater 38 Commerce Street
Thurs, Fri Sat at 7pm/ Sat and Sun @ 3pm
Tickets $18 212 239 6299 www.telecharge.com
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