An Improv Evening That Lets Theatergoers Party Hearty

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"Tony N' Tina's Wedding" by Nancy Cassaro. Directed by Michael Fera. Produced by Cloud 9 Productions at Pilgrim Congregational Church, Broadway and E. Republican. Wednesdays-Saturdays at 7 p.m. 323-6323.

Why would any sane person spend up to $44.50 to attend the nuptials of strangers, followed by a reception where gloppy Italian pasta is served on paper plates, overpriced drinks are sold at a no-host bar, a cheesy combo plays mediocre rock, and the obnoxious extended family of the bride and groom is forever in your face?

Don't ask me. Ask the hordes who have kept the interactive theatrical parody, "Tony N' Tina's Wedding" running Off Broadway since 1988. And the thousands flocking to clone versions in Boston, Philadelphia, Vancouver, B.C., and elsewhere.

Cloud 9 Productions is banking that Seattle will also warm to this simulation of a strictly declasse, poorly catered, Italian-American affair. Created by Nancy Cassaro (who obviously has been to her share of Italian weddings), presented in a real church (Pilgrim Congregational on Capitol Hill), and directed by Michael Fera (who also staged it in Vancouver), the show features 29 persuasive, well-cast actor-improvisers who mingle and mix as well as they dish up ziti and flesh out "My Cousin Vinny"-style stereotypes.

Exploiting group-participation techniques that go back to the avant-garde Living Theatre (who used them for very different ends), "Tony N' Tina" turns everyone else in the vicinity into a wedding guest. Guests who buy their own champagne at $12 a bottle.

All the traditional rituals are included in this kitschy theme park of Italio-Queens bad taste. In the church, the ultra-sincere Father Mark joins Anthony Angel Nunzio, Jr. (played by Mark Dias like Robert DeNiro imitating Marlon Brando) and pretty, vacant Valentina Lynne Vitale (Lara Sackey) in matrimony.

Instead of the "Wedding March," we hear Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" as the bride walks down the aisle with her wacko brother. Sister Albert Maria leads a sing-along of an insipid Sunday-school tunes. And the very pregnant best maid and no-brainer best man offer stumbling readings of Bible verses.

Throughout the service, Tina's widowed mother shoots dagger-eyes at Tony's sleazoid father - whose date is a miniskirted "exotic dancer" from the strip joint he runs.

The ceremony is short and mildly amusing. But the main event is the chaotic, tacky reception, held in an adjacent hall and presided over by "the Cadillac of caterers" Vinnie Black, and the lounge-act band led by Danny Dulce (Bruce Hurlbut).

At this point in "Tony N' Tina's Wedding," one is expected and encouraged to let loose. That means riffing with the (largely uncredited) actors as they work the room. Dancing with that old party dog Uncle Louie. Joining the conga line. Boozing and toasting. And hooting at the increasingly nasty, drunken antics of Tony and Tina and their scuzzy nearest and dearest.

"Tony N' Tina" has a brilliantly commercial formula; it sells hedonism (drinking, dancing, laughing at raging idiots), warped nostalgia (for unbearable weddings) and ersatz fellowship (strangers are seated together) in the trappings of dinner-theater.

The fact that the whole thing is shamelessly contrived and manipulative, built on crude stereotypes and pretty pointless has to not bother you. If it doesn't, "Tony N' Tina" is a swell excuse to party. But if it does, it's an elaborate improv skit that never transcends its gimmicks.