They don't know she's their mama. Then she reveals that Domenico himself sired one of them. Not knowing which is his gives Domenico many sleepless nights and days of malaise. But he likes the young men and they like him. Quickly the sons learn to love their new-found mother.
Lots of laughs come bubbling to the surface.
But true emotional moments enrich the experience. Domenico comes across as comically foolish and self-dramatizing, but he also has that characteristic Italian ability to adapt to circumstances he cannot control. Filumena, meanwhile, always has flourished by her wits. She's the protector of home and hearth, the mother Italian males idolize-and with good reason. A couple of scenes seem superfluous and quite trivial, but most of the play moves along with vitality and purpose even as it becomes more serious.