Written and performed by Charly Chiarelli Directed by Ronald Weihs At Artword Theatre, Toronto Rating: ***
If you ever referred to someone as a wop, a dago, a grease ball or a spaghetti belly, he was probably calling you a mangiacake. It's the Italian immigrant's word for the established Canadian -- a cake eater. Italians, explains Sicilian storyteller Charly Chiarelli, eat bread, not that spongy white stuff that you people eat. And Mangiacake! is Chiarelli's title as he launches into another evening of stories and songs exploring the cultural divide.
Chiarelli is already something of a phenomenon in the grassroots world of storytelling. His created his first show, Cu'Fu?, for Artword Theatre in 1995, and has been performing it every since, telling appreciative audiences about growing up Sicilian in the north end of Hamilton, where he mediated between his immigrant parents and this strange place called Canada. This new show is a more conscious exploration of identity. Returning to his ancestral town of Racalmuto as a newlywed, he is confronted by a woman who demands "Cu si tu?" or "Who are you?" Chiarelli doesn't really know the answer, and takes us back to his teenage years when he escaped the north end for pure mangiacake territory at a Westdale high school.
Forthright about the prejudice experienced by Italian Canadians in the 1960s, and unapologetic about the bruising street fights in which he and his friends fought back, Chiarelli always finds the humour in life. Banished to the technical stream by a guidance counsellor, he runs for school president with the slogan "Put a wop on top." In his second act, he goes further afield, taking his new Irish-Canadian bride back to Sicily, and treating the audience to tales of his odd-ball relatives, including the uncle who spent the money saved for immigration on a donkey, stayed home and named the beast America.
Once again, Ronald Weihs directs, finding a solid physical footing for the show -- even if Chiarelli's repeated rearranging of a trio of battered suitcases does grow repetitive. Once again, Chiarelli enlivens the stories with his cheerful harmonica playing -- even if his blues tunes aren't particularly imaginative and his brash Sicilian rap number is painful. His forte is pure storytelling, and while Mangiacake! is very similar to Cu'Fu?, Chiarelli is growing smoother still. He has an engaging stage personality and a gift for mimicry, but most of all he has a novelist's eye for the telling tale, delicate or bawdy, humorous or poignant. Until April 29; 416-408-2783.
Kate Taylor