‘Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding’; ‘Hitzville — The Show’; ‘Fab Four Live’

4182195

4181714

4165794

The "V" does stand for variety. In a given day at the V Theater, you can throw it down at an Italian-American wedding or relive the Beatles and Motown. Here’s a menu sampling of minireviews for three of the choices.

TONY N’ TINA’S WEDDING

Hey everybody, welcome to Vinnie’s Hideaway," announces Vinnie Black (Scott Johnson), the proprietor who looks like he sells used cars on the side.

Vinnie is the host of a nightly, "Groundhog Day"-like repetition of the Tina Nunzio and Tony Vitale nuptials. But his reception hall changes along with the rest of this surreal and much-copied interactive dinner show. The new "fabulous boo-fet of love" is the third since the two raucous families descended upon the Rio in 2002.

Vinnie now leads wedding guests down stairs lined with signed glossies of Wayne Newton and Debbie Reynolds, under the big red chandelier and the Spanish arches, to witness vows recited in front of a wall painted with kitschy cherubs. Co-creator and director Larry Pellegrini says he "fell in love with the space" and its remnants from the original Sevilla club and decided to "use the room almost as a character."

Such attention to detail separates "Tony" from its knockoffs. The seating capacity of around 170 is about half that of the previous venues, ensuring more face time with the improvising characters. The only tables to be wary of lie at the extreme ends of the narrow, rectangular room.

Return visitors will find trade-offs in this off-Broadway intimacy. It’s easier to follow the scripted story points; when Tina’s drunken ex-boyfriend crashes in, all heads turn. But the tinny acoustics make it harder to eavesdrop on the boozy Brooklynites –who never, ever break character — even a few feet away.

Lounge singer Donny Dulce no longer has a band behind him, and the space to "Celebrate" fills up fast after the mother of the bride (Barbara Lauren) threatens, "This DJ cost a fortune, so get your asses up and dance!"

For those who can’t get enough of this stuff, the characters are there to greet early arrivals at the second-floor terrace lounge.

HITZVILLE

I reviewed this Motown tribute in September 2008, when it was a dinner cabaret at the roomy Harmon Theater, and wrote that it "wouldn’t work nearly as well playing to rows of theater seats."

I think I was right. Both audience and performers seem a bit scrunched in the V Theater’s second venue. The folding chairs arguably keep you more alert and within sweating distance of the cast. But there’s not much wiggle room for the singers in front of the five-piece band, even after the stage was extended eight feet.

The format is simple, reminiscent of vintage lounge revues. Four male singers (new ones, and younger than in 2008) alternate with three women to salute the Temptations, Four Tops, Supremes, etc. Top-billed Jin Jin Reeves is the high-energy centerpiece with her husky-voiced Aretha Franklin, crystalline Diana Ross and jittery Tina Turner.

FAB FOUR LIVE

A copy of a copy of a copy begins to blur. Still, you can’t go fundamentally wrong with Beatles classics played live, and "Fab Four Live" should work for less-discerning Beatlemaniacs.

First, an established, California-based tribute called the Fab Four did well enough here to spin off a full-time resident show, "Fab Four Mania." From that company, cast members Steve Craig (John Lennon), Tony Felicetta (Ringo Starr) and the Ed Sullivan-imitating host (Paul Terry) were coaxed into forming a rival production, one which currently has the original clones sidelined.

Vocal and visual similarity to John, Paul (John Hepburn), George (Glen McCallum) and Ringo diminish in that order. This cast copies the Fab Four’s three-act, three-costume structure — skinny-tie Moptop, psychedelic Sgt. Pepper and near-breakup "Let It Be" — and uses one of the same videos (of old Brits singing) to cover a costume change.

It does go its own way for a medley of George Harrison tunes and for Terry’s costumed turn as Austin Powers. Don’t expect to see that in Cirque du Soleil’s "Love."

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.