If you have ever been at a wedding reception where things got out of control — too much drinking, embarrassing stories about the bride or groom — you’ll know what to expect from Manoa Valley Theatre’s production of “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding.”

The show is a fond but harsh satire of lower-­working-class Americans as represented by the Italian-­American Nunzio and Vitale families. It is interactive and so completely immersive the audience not only sits amid the actors and interacts with them, but everyone shares a hearty Italian buffet dinner as well.

When MVT presented “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” for the first time in 1996, Tina and her family were rewritten as heavily stereotyped “locals” and a glut of thick Pidgin dialogue was added. When Shannon Winpenny directed it for MVT in 2011, she went back to the original writers’ intentions with great results.

This time around R. Kevin Garcia Doyle is directing.

In Doyle’s staging, Antonio “Tony” Nunzio (Fili Leasau) is half Samoan. Tony and his younger brother, Johnny Nunzio (the charismatic Arinex Aga), spice up the proceedings with a seemingly spontaneous Samoan dance, and Tina does a brief Samoan dance in honor of her husband.

Valentina “Tina” Vitale (Aimee Nelson) is now Valentina “Tina” Sakamoto. Her slightly befuddled great-­uncle Lui — played with deft understatement by Hawaii stage veteran Allan Y. Okubo — leads the guests in the “banzai!” cheers that have become a tradition at local Japanese weddings.

Doyle’s ethnic changes work much better than the ones inflicted upon MVT’s first production. He also toned down much of the exaggerated comic characterizations. Give him credit for almost all of his casting choices.

The show is a triumph for Maleko McDonnell (Vinnie Black), whose portrayal of the caterer shows off his talents as an actor and singer. In one of McDonnell’s best scenes, he is on stage telling increasingly off-color jokes while his wife, Loretta, beautifully played by Iris Wilhelm­-Norseth, cringes stoically beside him.

Dan Connell (Donny Eureka), recently seen as one of the Bad Idea Bears in MVT’s “Avenue Q,” is hilarious as the obliviously lackluster wedding band singer. His backing singer Annette Arinix (Celeste Marie Romano) has a “wow!” breakout moment when she takes over after Eureka has to leave the stage.

Matthew Miller, as Micheal Just, Tina’s scruffy ex-boyfriend, adds pizzazz to one of the shows many opaque subplots. What may not be clear for many in the audience is that Michael was invited to the reception by Tina’s mother — either to remind him what he lost or because she wants to sabotage Tony and Tina’s marriage.

The biggest problem with the show is built into it. People who are not in the front-row tables on either side of the central aisle can’t see or hear much of what’s happening on the other side of the aisle. Whatever it is won’t be part of your experience.

On the other hand, the cast is trained to work with the unexpected, so if you feel like dancing when people are dancing, or going up and toasting the bride and groom when toasts are being made, feel free to get up and go for it.