The theatrical antecedents of Serrano are many: there’s Cyrano for starters, followed by Pygmalion, “The Godfather” and Guys and Dolls (with “The Sopranos” bringing up the rear). When you add such spicy ingredients as bawdy humor, political incorrectness and a big dose of transvestism to the pot–not to speak of two dozen terrific songs–well, what you end up with is one helluva crazy, mixed-up, hilarious musical comedy.
Serrano (full name Serrano D’Angelo, played by Tim Martin Gleason), is a renaissance man: poet, philosopher and enforcer for the Reyo crime family. The Don (Peter Van Norden) taps him for an unusual job: taking the “crude” out of his handsome but thuggish nephew, Vinnie Pepperini (Chad Doreck), so that he can bed and wed Rosanna Spumonte (Suzanne Petrela), the refined and virginal daughter of a judge who sits on a case involving The Family. If he succeeds, the judge would be obliged to recuse himself from the case, clearing the way for a different, mob-friendly judge.
The setting for all these farcical high-jinks is NYC’s Little Italy, where the annual feast of San Gennaro has just begun. Serrano’s 12-person cast kicks off the festival (and the show) with a rousing number, “La Festa Di Tutti Le Feste.” Sung and danced with an explosive burst of energy and high spirits, “La Festa” is the first of many exceptional tunes by Madeline Sunshine and Robert Tepper, a team that will undoubtedly be heard from again in future. A four-piece band led by Jeff Rizzo give fire and drive to the Sunshine/Tepper score.
The plot complications stem largely from Serrano being secretly in love with Rosanna. His pain is intensified when he is obliged to feed Vinnie with poetic lines aimed at winning over the beautiful ingenue.
Three drag queens (led by Chad Borden), numerous mobsters, bikers, tarts and other Mulberry Street denizens (including a very horny Italian mother, Valerie Perri) also figure in the sometimes confusing but always hilarious story. Director Joel Zwick’s challenge is to somehow juggle all the balls the creators threw at him, but with choreographer Peggy Hicks’ help, he makes everything look easy.
As with most musicals, Serrano eventually becomes a love story, but in this case it’s a good one, powered by a couple of strong, intense ballads that are put across believably by Gleason and Petrela. The show just might just have the goods to make it in New York and regionally.
