Memoirs of the Last Sicilian: A One Man Play You Can’t Refuse

Memoirs of the Last Sicilian: A One Man Play has one more weekend of performances at Theatre82’s black box space on Rolfe Square and not for nuthin’ — you would be hard pressed to find a better show around these parts for a ten spot.

Nick Albanese is a gifted storyteller and comedian, having honed his skills over the past 11 years throughout the comedy clubs of New England. Memoirs of the Last Sicilian is an evening of true stories from Sicilian American Albanese, most of them about his childhood years spent in his family’s bakery, how generations of his relatives met, married and overcame much to come to America.

Albanese cuts a warm, sociable figure reminiscent of a young Paul Sorvino, and quickly establishes a friendly rapport with his listeners. Over the course of the 60-minute piece, the audience is treated to some winning stories that one imagines have been passed down over raucous family dinner tables for years and years. The ones that Albanese performs with the most heart and clarity are the tales that star his father. He tells of how when the Blizzard of ‘78 hit, his father opened wide the doors of the family bakery to take care of his neighbors in need – something that would be remembered for years to come in their close-knit Italian community. The stories of his father’s days in the service and how he managed to finagle a Section 8 discharge based completely on his brother’s reputation alone were wonderful, unique and very entertaining.

Side-splittingly funny is the section based on his father’s uncanny “magic shoe” that always hit its intended disciplinary target and then returns promptly to his father’s side. Equally amusing is his reenactment of his mother’s enforcement of the house rules with a wooden spoon — or actually spoons, since inevitably the spoons break upon first contact. (And yes, I know this to be completely true as my mother also had a penchant for spanking us kids with whatever cooking utensil was handy.)

The script weaves in and out of Sicilian history, the mafia and the negative perception of Italian immigrants in America and then switches back to the family stories. This is where the show suffers a bit from lack of a solid narrative structure for our narrator to build upon. Each of the family’s tales are engaging and while Albanese is sitting on a goldmine of really cool, quirky stories from Sicilian history, the telling of such a wide scope of historical events and factual information just needs some strengthening to allow for the same passion and connection to the material.

That being said, as this is a new work I’m sure that Albanese will keep improving on his script and the connecting transitions between stories. On opening, I heard buzz that the show might be popping up again at another theater in the near future and I, for one, am looking forward to hearing from this “Last Sicilian” again.

Memoirs of the Last Sicilian: A One Man Play, written and performed by Nick Albanese, directed by Stephen Martin and presented by new The SantRiana Theatre Group continues Friday, November 13 and Saturday, November 14 at 8pm at Theatre 82 & Cafe, 82 Rolfe Square, Cranston. Tickets available online: https://apps.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&e=0e8338afaca147be53673b3b0cd38573. Writer and actor Nick Albanese will be holding post show meet and greets in the Theatre82 Café after each performance.