'MAMBO ITALIANO' Show gets A+ for performance

You will laugh sometimes and have a lump in your throat other times.
By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Most writers yearn for those rare and magical moments when the precisely correct number of words combine in the most efficient and creative way, so that the result expresses depth and meaning far beyond the sum total of the words themselves.
There may not be such a thing as a perfectly written piece, but Steve Gallucio's play, "Mambo Italiano," comes pretty close. Add to that a generous helping of humor from an excellent cast, and you have a performance that gets an A+. This production is now showing at Kent-Trumbull Theater.
"Mambo" is a story about being Italian, Catholic and gay. It is about loving and losing, struggling with family and struggling with self; the need to be accepted and the drive to be authentic. It doesn't matter whether you are straight or gay, this play will make you laugh really hard while it tugs at your heartstrings and brings a lump to your throat.
The premise
Angelo (Eric Wayne Coulbourne), is deeply in love with Nino (Brent Edward Whetstone) and finally gathers the nerve to tell his strict old-world parents that he is gay. Nino, however, isn't ready to come out and becomes resentful when Angelo reveals their secret.
Angelo's sister, Anna (Maria Alana Wright), has known all along, and she loves and supports him. At 35, she still lives at home under the iron hand of her parents. She is addicted to Valium and drinks too much.
Much of the sharp-witted humor of this work is in the fast-paced dialogue, filled with sarcasm and insults thrown back and forth between Angelo's parents, Maria (Donnagene Palmer) and Gino (C. Richard Haldi), who fight constantly. Enter Lina (Linda Kay Newill), Nino's mother, and the jabs go even deeper. But the trouble really begins when the two mothers get their heads together and decide to throw a party to fix up their boys with attractive girls, which they seem to think will immediately solve the "problem" of their being gay. Lina invites Pina (Heather Fenstermaker), and suddenly Angelo's world is turned on its side.
Throughout the play, it is Angelo who is the oasis in the desert. The others, it seems, have had their lives in automatic drive for years, living the mold cast by those before them, and passing it on to their offspring. But Angelo is life, love, passion, pain -- all the emotions that the others have drowned in a bottle of wine or suppressed in the lies they live.
Captivates audience
Coulbourne, who is a theater major at Kent-Portage, kept the audience in the palm of his hand -- especially in his beautiful and tender soliloquy expressing the depth of his feelings for Nino, then in his explosion during the party, pouring out years of pain, anger and resentment. Coulbourne's emotional range and his ability to penetrate the hearts and souls of the crowd were amazing. When he spoke, it was as if the rest of the world stopped to listen, because what he had to say was so important, and it was delivered so well.
In fact, the chemistry among all the members of this top-notch cast resulted in a flawless and magical performance.
This play is very highly recommended (but not suitable for children under 16). It continues Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. Call (330) 675-8887 for tickets.