After staying in the same place for 10 years, you might want to move, too. Off-Broadway's Tony N' Tina's Wedding, which has been ensconced in St. John's Church in Greenwich Village since February 6, 1988 with no sign of closing any time soon, is moving its operations to the Vegas Room in midtown Manhattan's Edison Hotel.
The move to the 190-seat space will afford the popular interactive production 40 more seats each night, said publicist David Rothenberg. "The show books an enormous amount the theatre parties, but we've always had to cut them off at 150. Forty extra seats six or seven times a week adds up."
Rothenberg said the creators of Tony N' Tina's Wedding have no plans for the old St. John's space.
Already third-longest running show in Off-Broadway history, T&T has since played in over 30 American cities -- including Seattle, Baltimore and Kansas City -- and such international sites as Australia, Germany and Britain. Following in the footsteps of Grease!, T&T has maintained audience interest by offering unusual guest appearances in lead rolls. New York Met Lee Mazzilli and U.S. Soccer Champ Tony Meola and NY's most decorated city cop, Robert Cea, have all played Tony.
Not only popular, T&T has also been influential, since its part-scripted, part-improv, food-included and site-specific techniques have been adopted by show's such as Grandma Sylvia's Funeral, Bernie's Bar Mitzvah and a gay copycat show, Tony N' Tony's Wedding, which played in Chicago for a few weeks simultaneously with the original. For information on the New York production of Tony n' Tina's Wedding, call (212) 239-6200; Group sales: (212) 889-4300.
-- By Robert Simonson and David Lefkowitz