Naperville restaurant serving interactive theater

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Eddie Domingues plays “Johnny” in “Johnny Boy’s Graduation” at Dolce Amore restaurant in Naperville. \ Submitted

Updated: October 29, 2011 12:43AM

General manager Joe Hudetz, who oversees the Dolce Amore restaurant in Naperville, will be serving something besides pasta on special nights through the rest of the summer. He’s bringing a little interactive theater to a table near you.

“Johnny Boy’s Graduation,” a story that deals with a jewel thief who hides stolen diamonds before going to jail only to recover them after he gets out, is coming to Dolce Amore as part of an effort to expand the show’s audience. The show comes from the same creators of “Tony & Tina’s Wedding,” which has been running for almost 20 years.

“This new show has been performed in the Taylor Street neighborhood in Chicago, but the thought was to try and expand the audience here to the western suburbs,” Hudetz said. “The producers of the show came out and looked at our restaurant here, and felt the setting here would be perfect. I’ll have to close the restaurant one day a month for the show, but it should be fun.”

Hudetz said a cast of 22 people who serve as bartenders, waitresses, receptionists and body guards will invade the restaurant. Audience members “will be frisked at the door, and any hardware will be confiscated.”

“The show is also anchored by a great disc jockey and a Frank Sinatra-type singer, and there will be lots of singing and dancing, including a conga line where everyone in the audience participates,” Hudetz said. “The evening ends late as the DJ will continue to play music after the actors have left. People are really going to enjoy this.”

The Naperville show joins another satellite production, which will be in Wheeling on a monthly basis, along with two or three others that will continue to be performed at the Taylor Street location. Mark Nassar, co-creator of “Johnny Boy’s Graduation” and “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” — who also played the original Tony in the TNT production — will be available for interviews.