Tragedy, Triumph in Uneven ‘Wedding’

Given the native ceremony, spectacle and, of course, all that knee-pulverizing dancing surrounding “A Greek Wedding” at the Gascon Center Theatre, it would be easy to mistake the piece for a National Geographic special.

Granted, Angeliki Giannakopoulos’ staging of Vasa Solomou-Xanthaki’s novel is gorgeous to behold, and you can lose yourself in set designer Elina Katsioula’s multitiered, labyrinthine re-creation of an entire Greek village. But in the very long first half, details of village life all but eclipse the oddly detached and generic plot about an arranged marriage between Lenio (Barbara Lettieri)--a shy, motherless girl raised by an abusive, alcoholic father (Zuhair Haddad)--and handsome, young Nikolio (John Michael Morgan).

The more narrative-driven second act follows the traditional recipe for Greek tragedy, where sins of the parents take their toll on innocent generations that follow. Only then does the drama reach out to emotions rather than sentiment, yet there’s a civics lesson in the delay: It takes tremendous sorrow and adversity for Lenio and Nikolio to shed the conventions of a deeply traditional culture and emerge as distinct individuals.

* “A Greek Wedding,” Gascon Center Theatre, 8737 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 6 p.m. Ends Feb. 23. $22.50. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.