The Hampton Theatre Company's 2022-2023 season will open next Thursday with "Over the River and Through the Woods," a comedy by the Tony Award-winning playwright Joe DiPietro that enjoyed an 800-performance run on Broadway when it opened in 1998.
The play's title is appropriate, since its protagonist, Nick Cristano, a 29-year-old single professional living in New York City, goes across the Hudson River every Sunday to visit his four first-generation Italian-American grandparents. Nunzio, Emma, Aida, and Frank live two doors down from each other in Hoboken and lavish profuse affection on their only unmarried grandson.
When Nick announces at dinner that he has been offered an important promotion -- which will take him to Seattle -- the grandparents are heartbroken. In a desperate attempt to keep him from moving away, they invite Caitlin O'Hare, a beautiful nurse, to the following Sunday's dinner. Things, however, don't go according to plan: Nick snaps at them, Caitlin is turned off by his behavior, and all bets seem to be off.
In a review of a recent Florida production, Dave Elias of NBC2-TV, said the play "evokes memories and warm feelings with a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, but it's also got some tear-jerking moments as well. . . . It is written brilliantly and fondly by Joe DiPietro."
The H.T.C. production stars George A. Loizides as Nunzio, Catherine Maloney as Emma, Amelia Chiaramonte as Aida, Carl DiModugno as Frank, Patrick Osborne as Nick, and Meg Hrinkevich as Caitlin. Mr. Loizides is the director and set designer. Lighting design is by Sebastian Paczynski, sound by Seamus Naughton, and costumes by Teresa Lebrun. Roger Moley is co-director.
Performances will be on Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8, and Sundays at 2:30 through Nov. 13, with an additional matinee set for Nov. 5. A conversation with the cast will follow the performance on Friday, Oct. 28. Tickets are $36, $31 for senior citizens, and $20 for students 25 and under; a discounted season subscription option is also available.
