"Over the Tavern" is on stage through March 14 at Germantown Community Theatre.
Tom Dudzik’s “Over the Tavern” at the Germantown Community Theatre has some good natured fun with the image of the American family in the 1950s.
For the Polish-American Pazinski household in Buffalo, the culture of “Father Knows Best,” Ed Sullivan and beehive hairdos runs athwart of Catholic school, teen angst and family tensions.
"Over the Tavern" is on stage through March 14 at Germantown Community Theatre.
It’s given a comedic treatment, but not without bringing in the touchy topics of abusive parenting and misdirected intentions.
The family lives above the tavern owned by the father, Chet (Ken Mitten) who insists on making all the big decisions. His wife Ellen (a splendid Leslie Lee Lansky) is the real glue that holds the family together.
At the center is Rudy, the middle brother played with engaging impish style by Elijah Zelonky. He’s 12, does Ed Sullivan impersonations and has a questioning mind. This doesn’t help him while he’s being instructed by the fearsome Sister Clarissa (the always terrific Janie Paris) who enforces dogma and discipline with a ruler on the hand.
Also caught up in their own teen problems are 15-year-old Eddie and 14-year-old Annie, along with the youngest brother Georgie who is mentally impaired.
As directed by Andy Saunders, the story bounces along nicely as Rudy has his one-way conversations with Jesus and tries to get a real discussion going with Sister Clarissa in between recitations of catechism.
Life in the apartment is a roller coaster, often funny, but sometimes rather edgy since overbearing, guilt-ridden Chet is always in danger of getting in one of his “bad moods.”
It is, in the end, a fairly mild concoction, as befits the resolution of a 1950s sitcom. There are serious moments, but not given too weighty a treatment, and in the end, it’s a pleasant entertainment.
“Over the Tavern”
On stage at the Germantown Community Theatre, 3037 Forest Hill-Irene., through Sunday. Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $15-$20. Call 754-2680 or germantowncommunitytheatre.org.
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