Playwright disappoints with 'Italian American Reconciliation'

Playwright John Patrick Shanley has been riding quite a wave. The critically acclaimed film version of his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play "Doubt" earned a spot on many critics' top 10 lists for 2008, and the film looks to be a contender come Oscar time.

That alone may inspire audiences to check out Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's production of Shanley's "Italian American Reconciliation," a comedy about a man's obsession with the wife he divorced three years earlier. Unfortunately, this dish proves far less satisfying.

Set in New York's Little Italy, the 1988 play centers around a group of Italian-Americans (gently humorous, inoffensive caricatures) wrestling with past mistakes, intimacy, closure, low self-esteem and dysfunctional relationships. Most of these issues are reflected in the romantic misfortunes that comprise the plot, which recalls Shanley's 1987 Academy Award-winning screenplay for "Moonstruck."

However, despite Shanley's heartfelt, colorful dialogue and the best efforts of director Kurt Naebig's able cast, "Reconciliation" emerges as a warmed-over plate of processed lasagna, and not the nourishing, homemade dish you'd expect from a writer of this caliber.

Shanley begins by loading up the audience's plate with generous servings of angst. Emotionally crippled by his divorce, distraught ex-husband Huey (a vulnerable Bryan Burke, deftly conveying the genuine pain behind the character's bombast) desperately wants to reclaim his manhood. He believes he can do so by winning back his thorny ex-wife Janice (the prickly, almost pitiable and powerfully bitter Lisa Savegnago), a violent, volatile woman who comes across as a combination of Lady Macbeth and "The Taming of the Shrew's" Kate.

Janice's bitterness stems from unresolved father issues, something shared by Huey's best friend Aldo Scalicki (a glib Tony Bozzuto, spot on as a hotshot with a good heart). The commitment-averse Aldo, who also serves as the play's narrator, fears any woman not his mother and the result has been a string of meaningless romances, the evidence of which comes in his opening monologue.

Believing that reconciling with Janice will restore his self-worth and end his emotional malaise, Huey enlists the loyal Aldo to help him win her back (a curious choice given the long-standing animosity between his best friend and his ex-wife). But first, Huey must break up with his current girlfriend, the long-suffering Teresa (Lisa Fontana), a kindly waitress who understands him better than he does. Providing Teresa moral support is her Aunt May (Kate Kisner), supplier of the homespun wisdom that dominates the play.

Having devised his seduction in the first act, Huey carries it out in the second, which unfolds as a combination of grand opera and Elizabethan tragedy. It comes complete with an extended balcony scene that begins with Aldo as Huey's romantic stand-in and concludes with Huey pleading his case to the unyielding Janice. But for all the grandly evoked sentiment, it feels as if Shanley's trying too hard. In the end, Shanley reduces the play to tired aphorisms having to do with reconciling demons, opening one's heart and taking risks to reap romantic rewards. None of which leaves the audience feeling very satisfied.

For all the passion the cast expresses - and they do a credible job expressing it - the story comes across as contrived and the characters' motivations don't feel authentic. Even Naebig's brisk direction can't make up for the first act, which begins promisingly with Aldo's exposition, winningly delivered by Bozzuto, but grows redundant when a male bonding/confession scene drags on too long.

Designer Michael W. Moon, who incorporates a cozy diner, cramped apartment and brownstone backyard in one compact set, earns points for his presentation. But Shanley's lukewarm "Italian American Reconciliation" fails to please the palate. The hollow sentiment and sporadic laughs - the biggest being a reference to the effect Janice's icy tone has on a part of Aldo's anatomy - make it more of a side dish than a main course, and an underwhelming one at that.

"Italian-American Reconciliation"

Location: McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn

Times: 8 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 8

Running time: About two hours with intermission

Tickets: $25-$29

Parking: Free lot adjacent to theater

Box office: (630) 942-4000 or atthemac.org

Rating: For adults, some strong language and sexual situations