When you think of Little Italy, what comes to mind?  Cute little restaurants?  Dramatic poetry?  How about passionate love?  Well, in Smithfield Little Theatre’s “Italian American Reconciliation”, you do get all of those, but a much less romanticized version than is typically depicted.  Our cute little restaurant is more of a soup counter, our dramatic poetry is hilariously poorly written at a tiny desk in a small room, and the passionate love scene, while happening off the edge of a beautiful balcony, might be misguided.  All three of those settings are wonderfully brought to life under the highway overpass that leads into Little Italy on SLT’s stage, designed by Jeff Corriveau, who also directs this dramedy.

The show opens with Jacob Cogley as the fourth wall breaking Aldo, welcoming the audience and telling us a couple little funny stories (Cogley is a strong storyteller with a good sense of how to use his physical presence to emphasize certain points along the way), before introducing us to the main plotline of the night, involving his best friend Huey.  We quickly learn that Huey and Aldo are foils for each other – Aldo, very guarded and unable to make emotional connections with women, declares that he will never marry.  Huey, on the other hand, is willing to jump right in and make himself more than emotionally available.  Huey is still in love with his crazy, dog-killing (off-stage, thankfully) ex-wife Janice three years after their divorce, despite being in a very healthy relationship with the waitress at the soup restaurant, Teresa.  Huey, played by an appropriately lovesick and totally beyond reasoning Patrick Wood, has in fact written Janice a poem (Wood’s delivery of this poem is a highlight of the play).  And Huey convinces a reluctant Aldo to help him get Janice back by sending Aldo to Janice to take the initial brunt of Janice’s wrath while Huey goes to dump Teresa. 

Well, Aldo has other ideas.  Convinced that Janice and Huey are not right for each other, he is determined to seduce Janice himself in an attempt to ensure that Janice and Huey cannot get back together.  In the meantime, we meet Teresa at the soup restaurant, played well by Kelly Flick (who we recently saw in “Something Rotten!” over at PCT).  Teresa has turned to her Aunt May for advice, as she has sensed Huey’s recent emotional withdrawal from their relationship.  Aunt May, played by the gum-smacking, minestrone-loving Holly Johnson, was my personal favorite character.  She is reluctant to give advice or be a part of the plotline, always looking for a way out of the conversation, and Johnson (who we were happy to see back on stage for I believe the first time this season after a couple of strong turns last year) has that little mischievous glint in her eye that is perfect for the role.  But, being a little removed from the passion of the four younger characters, May does provide a bit of wisdom, and really gets to the heart of what the play is about – that, although difficult at times, love is worth the price. 

It takes until the second act, but we do eventually meet Missy Sullivan’s Janice, and she is pretty much exactly as described by the other characters, putting herself (literally and figuratively) up on a pedestal, being contrary, irascible, and emotionally untouchable.  As the show draws to its conclusion, you will wonder – did anyone learn anything?  Did anything really get resolved, or is it doomed to repeat?  And how much minestrone did Aunt May eat?  The world may never know…