Moonstruck In Lower Manhattan ITALIAN AMERICAN RECONCILIATION

They are the last ethnic group America can comfortably mock. In movies and on TV, the Italian-American male is Stanley Kowalski without the sex appeal, the female a masochistic Judy absorbing too many Punches. So it is a tonic to meet the Italian Americans in John Patrick Shanley's plays (Danny and the Deep Blue Sea) and films (Moonstruck). The residents of Shanley's Little Italy dare to express their feelings in street poetry whose melodic line is closer to Verdi's than to Bon Jovi's. In his new off-Broadway play Shanley goes further, announcing that these days it is the women who have...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!