Las Vegas Weekly

February 19, 2009 · 7:18 AM

Photo Gallery: The nutty nuptials aka Tony ’n’ Tina’s Wedding

By Robin Leach

Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding.

Photo: TVT

It’s a marriage of mayhem. It’s the nuttiest nuptials in the world. It’s a randy, ribald reception with relatives you wouldn’t even want your enemy to ’fess up to having! Welcome to the violent vows of Valentina Lynn and Anthony Angelo Nunzio Jr., better known as Tony ’n’ Tina’s Wedding!

The show opened more than 20 years ago and is now the second-longest-running production in off -Broadway history. It has played for the past seven years in Las Vegas with more than 2,000 performances for some 325,000 guests -- and it’s still going strong.

Tina’s mom, Mrs. Josephine Vitale, and Cupid’s Catering have just moved the ceremony and reception from The Rio to a larger space in Planet Hollywood, and the combined madness of a drunken priest, a beer-guzzling bride, an out-of-control nun, an avaricious, sex bomb cougar and a lusting father-in law are all the perfect recipe for the fun and humor that boldly satirizes an Italian American wedding.

You are the guests, and you get caught up in this interactive, imaginative shindig. You’re dragged into the dancing. You fight for the garter and the bouquet. You even eat along with the stars of the show at their chicken parmigiana dinner and drink the champagne toast as the wedding cake winds up as a wicked weapon!

A surprise wedding crasher has been added to each performance, and Sopranos actor Joe Gannascoli was there the night I joined in the antics. Beginning tomorrow, professional wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper will be the guest celebrity through March 6. Roddy, who has won more than 7,000 matches and holds more than 38 titles, might even have to use his ring skills to take down some of the troublemakers! Other stars are lined up during the run of the show.

Tony ’n’ Tina is totally outrageous and wildly over the top. It’s the marriage ceremony you pray you never get invited to in real life, although with some recent news reports of weddings gone bad, this might seem quite normal. Just don’t be shocked that their idea of paradise is spending their honeymoon using discount coupons up in Mesquite! You’ll laugh out loud for nearly two hours, and then rush off to get a divorce attorney for them!

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