‘Wedding’ Takes a Tacky Trip Down Aisle : Costumes: Clothing and accesories provide an extra spark to the comedy of “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding.”

Marina, one of the bridesmaids in the red acetate, one-shouldered dresses accessorized with red stockings, is decked out in her own accessories: an armful of leopard-print bracelets, a gold chain around her neck bearing the word “Marina,” dangling M earrings, a gold M on her one long fingernail (she worked at Nails R Us for a long time) and her beloved Mets pin.

Vinnie Black, “the Cadillac of caterers,” comes to the wedding with a Cadillac hood ornament hanging from a gold chain around his neck. Should anyone not recognize his toupee, its pins are sticking out.

Josephine Vitale, the mother of the bride, is dressed in black chiffon (because she’s still mourning the death of her husband), but her gown is suitably overstated with copious gold embroidery.

Sister Albert Maria, cousin of the bride, accessorizes her modest nun’s habit with a modern touch: black knee-high stockings. Unfortunately, though, the tops of the stocking are visible below her skirt, and one of the stockings is falling.

And Tina, the bride, sports a makeup job--complete with bright blue eye shadow and white highlighter--that makes Tammy Faye Bakker look like Christie Brinkley. When Tina changes into her getaway, er, going-away costume--an off-shoulder, zebra-print top in cheap poly-cotton with black harem pants and white boots--her white bridal stockings are peeking through the pants’ side slits.

Welcome to “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding,” the play that could easily be retitled “Tony n’ Tina’s Tack-o-Rama.” The costumes for this stage extravaganza about New York, Italian, blue-collar families could have been guided by a Glamour magazine’s “Do’s and Don’ts” column--with all the do’s left out.

The audience-participation play, which opened recently to enthusiastic reviews, is playing at the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. And just as the improvisational script is always evolving, so are the the characters’ get-ups, says Juan de Armas, who supervises the costume, hair and make-up design.

Consider Tina’s wedding gown, a relentlessly ornate, off-shoulder creation that allows for maximum cleavage. “Yes, it’s tacky and it’s too much--too much beading, too many bows,” says de Armas. He even used polyester Charmeuse for the dress, “so it would shine a little more.” The gown’s 27-foot train currently bears a lavish fabric medallion, but in the near future it will be redone and embellished with intricate lace cutouts and even more beading.

The attention to visual details--such as an usher’s tuxedo sleeve that still has the rayon label sewn on it--is responsible for a large portion of the jokes. And as many in the audience have observed, the wardrobe travesties unleashed at the wedding are particularly appealing because they’re so familiar.

“Everything not only had to look real, it had to feel real,” says de Armas. “You’d be surprised how many times people in the audience will grab the stomach (of one of the bridesmaid’s who’s pregnant) and go all the way to the bottom (of the padding) and lift it up. We had to stuff a Danskin leotard with terry cloth (under her dress).

“The director said to me, ‘Make the characters look as real as the people who walk in through the door and you won’t go wrong.’ It’s a very thin line. There are some people in the audience who can’t participate because it’s too close to home for them. We catch them with the little details that totally circle in on who the characters are.”