Tony N' Tina's Wedding

A film version opens today -- and I can't imagine a film version of a hyperdrama being very interesting. This has been the most popular hyperdrama by far, but it's not a "pure hyperdrama" the way Tamara, which popularized the new form in the 1980s, or my own hyperdrama (I've had seven produced but my most ambitious, The Seagull Hyperdrama, is unproduced and probably never will get produced, given the difficulty of staging this expansion of the Chekhov classic). T&T relies more on improvisation than my scripted work.

But the commercial attraction of T&T was at least half "for the form." Here's a blurb that emphasizes this:

At Tony n' Tina's Wedding, audience members actually play the roles of Tony n' Tina's family and/or friends. These are roles we have all been practicing, every time we go to a real wedding. This universal familiarity with the union of two individuals from 2 distinct families, regardless as to where you are from, will take you back and forth between fantasy and reality throughout the entire evening. For the ultimate experience... eat, drink, dance, converse and allow yourself to be caught up in the activities. This all inclusive evening of entertainment will be something you and your friends will be talking about for many years to come.

The concept here is brilliant in commercial terms. Tamara, in contast, is a serious play set in Facist Italy. I've done so much work in this area that I've tried a variety of story genres, from satire and comedy to drama and even a musical (one of the three plays within Cocktail Suite).

But I don't know if the story alone is enough to carry T&T the movie. We'll find out soon enough.

More about hyperdrama.