You arrive at the Hamilton Princess at around 7 p.m. and head for the Moon Gate overlooking the harbour. There you find a beautiful setting for a wedding with about 200 guests. Ushers ask if you are friends of the bride or groom before you are allowed entry, and crashers are meticulously weeded out.

You know that you have purchased tickets for a dramatic production, but at this point you?re a little confused.

This is unlike any ?show? you?ve ever attended.

This is a wedding! There are no programmes, no cast lists, no preferential seating, and absolutely no pretence that what you are experiencing is anything more than the wedding ceremony of one Anthony Nunzio and Valentina Virgil (a nicely localised version of the original Vitale).

This is a wonderfully constructed, delightfully dysfunctional depiction of a traditional Bermudian wedding. You are a guest at this wedding, and never once do you feel like a member of an audience. That is the point: Tony and Tina?s Wedding is not a show, it?s an experience.

Every detail is lovingly rendered, right down to the late start. The caterers (led by Tina Duke as the fastidious Loretta Black, and Alistair Brown as her frazzled husband Vinnie Black) are overbearing and obsessive (at one point Loretta goes around the reception pouring unused glasses of champagne back into a bottle with a funnel); the wedding party is deliciously trifling; the in-laws are magnificently demented; and even the Priest (Father Mark, played by Stu Doyle) will succumb to excesses in the end.

The ceremony was beautiful. Tina?s brother Joey (played with relish by Robert Lewis) gave her away and then delivered a reading about love that was both hilarious and touching all at once. Then there was the reading delivered by the heavily pregnant, attitude-laden Maid of Honour, Connie (played superbly by the stunning Xenia Dill).

This was a gum-chewing, eye-rolling, tooth-sucking masterpiece of a performance, and the sentiment that Connie had better things to do than read silly love poems in the hot Bermuda sun at this stage of her pregnancy was delivered in no uncertain terms.

Connie?s gorgeously bad attitude would see her demoted from Maid of Honor later in the proceedings, but even that would do nothing to encumber the incredible sulk. Miss Dill delivered a masterful supporting performance, but she was not remotely alone.

In fact, this production is chock-full of brilliant performances, and charming situational humour.

Stand-out contributions came from the wonderfully melodramatic mother of the Bride (played brilliantly by Leighsa Augustus), the unflinchingly scandalous father of the Groom (played with reckless abandon by Dalzell Tucker), the shady hustler/best man Barry (played to great effect by Nadanja Bailey), the sweetly shallow second Bridesmaid Donna (played by the multi-talented Nicole Burgess), and the hilariously tragic Michael (Tina?s delightfully disruptive ex-boyfriend, who is played resplendently by Weston Kieschnick).

Then there are the stars of the show ? the instantly loveable title characters. Tina is gleaming from the start, flashing a smile bigger than the wide Sargasso Sea for all the world to see. Tony is the devastatingly cool Italian stud who is breaking hearts just by standing at the alter with his bride to be. Tina is played with irresistible panache by the divine Khalilah Smith, and the Nunzio kid is brought to life by the fabulous George Spurling.

Over the course of the wedding, the lead actors deliver every emotion imaginable with seamless skill and considerable style, taking the ?audience? on an emotional roller-coaster ride that ultimately screeches to a halt when love (yes, love) prevails.

After the ceremony, the guests are ushered to the reception, which is set up around the corner. The setting is beautiful once again, and this ?show? is crawling with quite a few excellent wedding suggestions.

Perhaps the Fairmont Hamilton Princess should start a wedding catering service once the show is finished its run, but I digress.

The reception is where the other star of the show is introduced. Here we meet the superbly gifted and versatile Donnie Dulce and Fusion (the wedding band extraordinaire). Lamont Robinson delivers a remarkably durable and outstanding performance as the tireless Dulche, and the musicians who make up Fusion (Stan Smith, Tony Barry, and Roni Lopes) strike every note on time and in step; this band was nothing short of spectacular folks.

The rest of the production involves heavy interaction between the actors and the ?audience,? including several bouts of rug-cutting, and even an abruptly dismantled conga-line. The Best Man and his fellow groomsman Dominique (Tyrone Smith) try to sell loose pieces of jewellery to audience members, Mr. Nunzio?s decidedly spicy girlfriend Madeline (played with aplomb by Nicola Wilkinson) flirts salaciously with every man within earshot, Michael gets drunk and causes numerous scenes, and Joey gallivants around the reception like a male peacock on the prowl. This experience is far more than just a play ? it is a hands-on, interactive outing, full of suspense, emotion, drama, and buckets of glorious laughter.

Tony and Tina?s Wedding is an outstanding production. The appeal of this sort of experience is that you have to invest emotionally in order to truly enjoy what is going on around you. I actually heard audience members saying that they felt like they were really at a wedding, and that made them a bit anxious and self-conscious. This is what I mean: Tony and Tina?s Wedding is a revelation!

You not only see what is happening, but you feel it! are very concerned every time Grandma Nunzio (Carol Birch) faints, and are scandalised when Father Mark morphs into ?Father Happy Hour? and wakes up in a drunken stupor, and are jolted and shaken when Mrs. Virgil destroys the conga-line with one loud, self-absorbed screech. are a player in Tony and Tina?s Wedding, are actively involved in the action from start to finish, and if you have never been to Tony and Tina?s Wedding, then you are in for a completely absorbing experience!

Tony and Tina?s Wedding repeats every Tuesday night at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess hotel, and will run right through the summer. Did I mention that dinner is included in the show? It is, and it is scrumptious. Don?t miss this one folks, this is the best regular show available in Bermuda for years!