Who’s the Rat?

A “parody” to Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” “Clemenza & Tessio are Dead” is the type of play that fans of the film will definitely get a kick out of. Using moments in the film as a springboard to deeper drama, this piece is a “behind the big picture” type of performance that is even better if you watch the source material right before.

However, on its own, “Clemenza & Tessio are Dead” lacks the punch an homage to anything even remotely-related to “The Godfather” should have. While Anthony Gallo [Sal Tessio] and Frank Senger [Peter Clemenza] are more than solid and get their fair share of laughs and applauses throughout, the play’s less than modest set, dialogue problems and lack of other actors on-stage takes away from what could have otherwise been an excellent drama.

Being an off-off broadway production, it’s understandable that the stage for this performance was a bare black. With a focus on the dialogue and these two over-the-hill Mafioso, there’s no need for a lavish set. But because of this, the dialogue in the play needs to be super strong and keep you involved throughout. In spite of some excellent writing at times, the script doesn’t get the job done. One scene in particular, in which Clemenza is yelling at his wife across the room, captures what essentially hurts the play the most, repetitiveness. After the first two times of hearing his roaring voice across the stage, the crowd has to at least chuckle and smile. And they do. However, three or four more instances of this same scream kill the joke and make the audience anxious for what’s ahead, rather than enjoy the current scene.

Similar situations where Tessio is forced to consistently repeat himself to Clemenza drag some scenes along. This ultimately robs the show of the conversational tone that playwright Gregg Greenberg does a more than adequate job of crafting- through a good two-thirds of the play.

Eventually, these small hiccups add up over time and hurt the flow of the performance immensely.

Feeling like “The Odd Couple” meets “The Godfather” at times, the play is billed as comedic drama, but never really sets its feet firm in either direction.

Luckily, both Gallo and Senger are excellent throughout. Even with the problems with the script, they are stellar as two mobsters that have seen better days. Troy Dane is decent as a host of other supporting characters and truly shines at the end as a young mobster who talks too much. Regardless of the trio’s ability on stage, this performance could have been helped out immensely with a few more talented faces on the stage.

Overall, with a few holes in the dialogue and a less than imaginative set, “Clemenza and Tessio Are Dead” is a performance geared specifically for fans of the genre. Anyone else not interested in the source material will enjoy the work Gallo and Senger, but will lack the aesthetics to put this story together properly.

Photo by Nick Tochelli

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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