Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady"sang about wanting a room somewhere far away from the cold night air, with one enormous chair, stating wouldn't it be loverly. Ten year old Carl Morelli wants that room somewhere, with or without a chair (a beanbag will do), as long as it belongs only to him...and it has an Atari video game, then it would be loverly too. Carl's choice of words are limited to rather strong four letter ones, but you'd get the idea soon enough. (Ivory soap, any one?)
Playwright Charles Messina is busy taking a walk down memory lane, back to his childhood growing up in a tenement in Greenwich village in the late 1970's. Messina clearly knows how to put the "fun" in dysfunctional but his family isn't going to win any gold medals for normalcy any time soon.
To get up close and personal with the Morelli clan, settle back at Waterbury's Seven Angels Theatre by Sunday, October 16 for "A Room of My Own" enjoying its Connecticut premiere.
Messina cleverly inserts himself in the tale, utilizing Michael Lombardi as the adult version of Carl and Christian Michael Camporin as Little Carl. The man wants to understand the child he was and, even though his family can't see him, tries to direct the action and the consequences of what is revealed on stage.
Carl has grown up in a ditzy and crazy environment, controlled to a large extent by his mom, Dotty, portrayed with vigor and vigilance by Joli Tribuzio. She has a good heart even if she is often misguided, directing her focus on her husband Peter, an accommodating Johnny Tammaro, her brother Jack, a flamboyant caring David Valcin, who lives upstairs, and her kids Jeannie (Julia Macchio) and Carl.
It's Christmas time and little Carl has written Santa about his number one and number two wishes, a room only for him, as he now shares the one bedroom flat by sleeping with his dad, and an Atari. He has no expectations of the first and only a small hope for the second.
A lot of family truths are about to explode and secrets revealed and the adult Carl is powerless to stop them,though he tries to valiantly. The arrival of dad's sister, Aunt Jean, alternately created by Semina DeLaurentis and Lisa Vann, causes a crisis of monumental proportions. If life was slightly off kilter before, now it is in full blown panic mode.
Charles Messina directs this highly personal revelation that includes nuns, meatballs, tuition payments, ghosts, a notebook, a check, a box of pastries and a dog named Little Piss. Who could ask for anything more?
For tickets ($38-58), call Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Road, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at www.sevenangelstheatre.org. Performances are Thursday at 2 pm and 8 pm, Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2 pm and 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm.
Crowd into the Morelli's one room apartment and get caught up in the verbal fisticuffs that echo off the crumbling walls and vote on whether Dr. Ruth or Judge Judy could settle the score.
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