Fun Times, and Some Drama, at ‘Wedding’

“Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” is more upscale than it was a decade ago. It’s also more fun.

The famous fictional nuptials are now in a real theater--the Henry Fonda. This wide, high-ceilinged space is a lot more festive than the previous L.A. production’s quarters, in a slightly seedy hotel near MacArthur Park.

Even though the show lasts more than three hours, it also moves faster now. No receiving line delays the proceedings.

But is it all too sleek and ritzy for Tony Nunzio (James Grimaldi) and Tina Vitale (Jackie Tohn) of Queens? No way. Even at the Fonda, no one will mistake this wedding for Prince Charles’.

Furthermore, this isn’t the neighboring Pantages, in all its restored splendor. The Fonda has been reconfigured as a Hollywood dive, Club Sparks, that has been gussied up for the occasion--but in a gaudily superficial fashion.

Most of the regular theater seats are gone, replaced by a flat extension of the stage that serves first as wedding chapel, then as ballroom. The remaining theater seats are heaped in a tangled pile near the back of the orchestra, cordoned off with yellow police tape that indicates a crime scene. If you ask, you hear rumors about an incident that took place at Club Sparks the preceding night--something about a teenager falling through the roof. If you want more details, you’ll have to snoop more assertively.

That kind of challenge is part of the allure of this show. Very little of the back story of “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” is spelled out. But you can glean plenty of tantalizing information if you ask questions.

The creators of this “Wedding” and the original’s director, Larry Pellegrini, surround us with the panoramic sights and sounds of a rowdy Italian American wedding and make sure that the actors know the stories of their characters. But you get to decide how much you really want to know.

Of course, participation is not limited to asking questions. The guests observe the none-too-ceremonious ceremony, then return to the lobby for wine, pigs in blankets and chitchat with the wedding party while the main room is being transformed. Upon reentering the theater, guests sit at circular tables. Then it’s party, party, party: dancing, toasts and dinner (chicken, ziti that on opening night had a burned aftertaste--which may or may not have been intentional--salad and sauteed veggies), plus entertainment both intentional and inadvertent.

Intentional: The bride and her attendants do a lip-synced dance to an ‘N Sync recording, made especially ridiculous by the contrast of bridal regalia and casual sneers.

Inadvertent: At my table, one of the guests--perhaps thrilled to find a theatrical event that doesn’t forbid cell phone use--called a friend in Texas. Soon, two of the actors were talking to Texas too.

The dancing took flight much earlier and more vigorously than at many a real wedding. Thanks to the band Fusion for keeping the volume lower than at plenty of real social events, so that guests could hear each other talk.

Besides the brassy titular couple, there is Tina’s widowed mother (who’s proudly staying at a celebrity’s hotel--the Beverly Garland in Studio City), and Tony’s lecherous dad, accompanied by his new floozy. Then there are the bride’s brother, who’s a Bob Fosse fanatic; the bubbly cousin who became a nun; the presiding priest who drowns his wooden personality in drink; the pregnant maid of honor and her lover, the best man; Tony’s grandmother and Tina’s aging Uncle Lui (both played by relatively young actors); a swishy videographer and a scowling still photographer; Tina’s morose ex-boyfriend; and the hopped-up club owner.

The entire ensemble helps maintain the air of hyper-realism--it’s ironic that the name of the group that created the show, Artificial Intelligence, emphasizes artifice. Only near the end, in a speech by Tony, does a slightly stagey scene occur, but this speech also provides the sense of a climax--as opposed to so many weddings, which slowly wind down.

Play, wedding, whatever--”Tony n’ Tina’s” is a rousing entertainment. Yes, the tickets are expensive--but here’s one wedding where you need not bring a gift.

* “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding,” Henry Fonda Theatre, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m., except dark Dec. 24. Ends Jan. 28. $75. (800) 660-8462. Running time: 3 hours, 15 minutes.

James Grimaldi: Tony

Jackie Tohn: Tina

Jay Lay: Barry Wheeler

Betsy Moore: Connie Macogni

Jon Pascucci: Dominic Fabrizzi

Jules Dosik: Donna Marsala

Ron S. Petronicolos: Johnny Nunzio

Katey Mushlin: Marina Galion

George Georgiadis: Anthony Nunzio Sr.

Amy Lord: Madeline Monroe

Fabiana Medici: G’Ma Nunzio

Randi Kaplan: Josephina Vitale

Luciano Miele: Uncle Lui

Michael Bommarito: Joey Vitale

Iris Bahr: Sister Albert Maria

Christopher Cause: Vinnie Black

Karen Gordon: Loretta Black

David Storrs: Sparky

Brently Heilbron: Sal Antonucci

Hayes Hargrove: Michael Just

Andrew Hawtrey: Father Mark

Enoch Scott: Rick DeMarco

Val Martinez: Donny Dolce

Produced by James M. Nederlander and Howard Perloff Productions. Conceived by Nancy Cassaro. Created by Artificial Intelligence. Directed by Larry Pellegrini. Set by Randall Thropp. Choreography by Bommarito. Lighting/sound by David Horoschak. Musical director David Karnes. Costume consultant Juan de Armas. Stage manager Michelle Caspary.