Valentina Lynne Vitale and Anthony Angelo Nunzio Jr. got married in Napa last week — and the week before; in fact, they got married a total of 12 times, and each time it was celebrated with gusto

“Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” sold out all the performances at the Napa Valley Opera House, packing the house with audiences happy to eat, drink and dance, all in honor of love and family and its attendant mayhem.

This interesting concept in participatory entertainment grew from the longest-running off Broadway show. The touring professionals are few — Tony (Scott Belushi), Tina (Denise Fennell), director Kevin Alexander (who doubles as the Vinnie Black, the glad-handing owner of the restaurant where the reception takes place) and a wedding singer or so. They are merely the catalyst. The real entertainment comes from the locals who auditioned for parts to fill out the wedding party and spent the last two weeks in this wacky semi-improv show. The audience become the role of wedding guests and it adds up to a hilarious time for everyone. A gamble on the part of Opera House director Evy Warshawski proved to be yet another inspired hit that connected with locals on a grand scale.

The “wedding” took place upstairs in the Opera House theater, with the processional leading up to the stage. The night we attended, we were sitting next to an out-of-towner who was royally entertained by the explainations of who was play who. “The mother of the bride (given to bewailing her dead husband) Oh, that’s Barbara Nemko, our superintendent of schools. The father of the groom, (Anthony Angelo Nunzio Sr. owner of a strip bar) that’s Dan Monez, our former police chief. His date (a minimally attired floozy named Madeline Monroe) that’s Selena R. Medlin, recently moved to Napa to join the law firm of Coombs and Dunlap. And — oh — the priest coming down the aisle in full clerical regalia and carrying a bible — oh, gosh, he’s a journalist, editor of the American Canyon Eagle. One Mike Waterson.”

The wedding party of bridesmaids were dressed like ripe tomatoes — particulary Constance Mocogni, the gum-snapping pregnant maid played by Christina Comaford-Lynch. Nolan Kenmouth Barney, Gabe Frey and Richard La Rosa played the groomsmen who end up doubling as bouncers at the rowdy reception that followed downstairs in the Opera House Cafe Theater. Grandma Nunzio, prone to fainting, was played by veteran Napa actress Nouria Harris. Up-and-coming Napa High actor Alexander Lyman was the comical brother of the bride, while Amber Price made her mark as cousin of the bride Sister Albert Maria, who led the audience in singing “Jesus is Just All Right With Me.” Also in the cast were Mia Cook, Michael Just, Carlo Matteucci, Richard Ogden, Gail Silverman, Lisa Shortridge, Elise Suttie, Susan Wheeler and Greg Wong.

The visitor’s observation was that, although Napa might be known for its wines, it appears to produce a considerable amount of ham.

Lively and incident-prone as the wedding was, the real action began when the audience went downstairs for the reception. There tables were set, complete with plastic Champagne glasses and trays of appetizers that included canned black olives, Ritz crackers and Cheese Whiz. In due time, a buffet of pasta and garlic bread was opened up. (The show’s producers, Joe and Dan Corcoran, estimate they’ve served more than 52,000 pounds of pasta to some 215,000 people since “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” first opened on Valentine’s Day, 1988.)

The lines between theater and real life became hilariously blurred — the cast mingled, roaming around the room and in the course of the evening the bride and groom danced, fought and reconciled. Madeline Monroe lost what little there is of her gown. The priest passed out on the bar. Grandma fainted. Vinnie Black told offensive jokes. Flirting, brawling and matchmaking runs rampant, and there is a Conga line. Everyone sang “That’s Amore.”

One member of the audience summed it up best: “The strange thing is, we’ve all been here before.”

And everyone loved it.