A Comedy About a Crazy Italian Family Opens in Bozeman

Local theater is alive and well in Bozeman. A new production of the Broadway show Over The River and Through The Woods has just opened at the  Kaleidoscope Playhouse. It's a comedy about a young guy from New Jersey who has dinner every Sunday at his grandparents' house.

The Italian family finds out their grandson Nick, played by Bozeman comedian Roerick Swenson, is taking a job in Seattle. Mamma mia, their baby is leaving New Jersey. The grandparents are so upset they conspire to stop this.

Both sets of grandparents - played by George DeVries, Lou Morris, Mary Orr and Peggy Jensen - will do anything to keep Nick on the East Coast. How could he leave his family and those Italian Sunday dinners?

What is stronger than spaghetti, meatballs, family? Sex!

The family finds a very pretty young girl, played by Liz Preston, and tries to use her as bait to stop this crazy grandson from moving to that awful place called Seattle.

Will he fall in love with her and stay in New Jersey? That's what the grandparents hope. The comedy is full of laughs as the Italian grandparents manipulate the situation.

Directed by Stephanie Campbell, former professor of theatre arts at MSU, the play looks at how sometimes family love can make people do crazy things.

Over the River and Through the Woods plays for the next three weekends until June 18. The play starts at 7:30 p.m., and I am told you had better get a ticket as soon as possible before it sells out.

For tickets go to the website http://www.opendoorbozeman.org/tickets.html or call 406-548-5744

Dominick