Armed with just my own pop culture-overstuffed brain, I only know passable bits and pieces of the original 1998 film that inspired the Broadway musical reincarnation of THE WEDDING SINGER. Admittedly, I have never seen the film in its entirety—save for a few accidental mid-movie landings on cable—primarily due to my slight aversion to most of the Adam Sandler oeuvre. I was, however, somewhat familiar with the peppy original Broadway cast album—I'm a fan of the original cast's lead actor Stephen Lynch—and, so, I at least knew going in that the show was set in the ripe-for-mockery 80's and that some of the songs were lyrically hysterical. Thus, I came into seeing Musical Theatre West's current revival with virtually an open-minded semi-blank slate.
Well, thank goodness! One of the funniest, most genuinely entertaining shows MTW has ever mounted in recent seasons, THE WEDDING SINGER was such a pleasant, laugh-filled surprise. This professional regional premiere of the five-time Tony-nominated Broadway musical—now playing through Sunday, July 24 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach—is as bubbly and adorable as it is cheeky and giddy.
Buoyed mostly by a charmingly droll book penned by Chad Beguelin and the film's original screenwriter Tim Herlihy (a frequent Sandler collaborator), THE WEDDING SINGER isn't just a celebratory collection of 80's era sight gags—though it's chockfull of them. Rather, the musical is also quite an enjoyable, safely silly romp that's spiked with the kind of witty snarkiness and unexpected sweetness that fits snuggly alongside today's funniest sitcoms and rom-com movies. The fact that this wacky musical comedy is punctuated by some awesome singing and dancing is just pure, sugar-laced icing on a multi-tiered wedding cake. Granted, this isn't genius-level theater here—it doesn't quite transcend its cult status, thus explaining its short-lived tenancy on Broadway—but, man, is it ever just uproariously fun to sit through! It's got plenty of laughs, and it easily earns every single one of them.
Plot-wise, the stage version is still closely-hewn to its cinematic source material, focusing on the circa 1985 tale of Robbie Hart (the fantastic Ciarán McCarthy), a New Jersey-born-and-bred singer who fronts a band that mostly performs at weddings (and unlike Sandler's version of the character in the film, this stage musical's Robbie actually sounds good when singing). While performing another wedding gig with his bandmates Sammy (wingman-ready Nick Bernardi) and George (audience favorite Matthew J. Vargo), Robbie joyfully announces to the fashionable crowd that his own wedding is about to take place the follow day. Of course, such an important impending event calls for him to have a fate-destined meet-cute with banquet hall waitress Julia (the effervescent Renée Brna) at this very gig.
The two become fast friends and Julia even helps Robbie pen a musical ode to his future wife in the back alley of the restaurant. Later that evening, Julia's own boyfriend, slick Wall Street hotshot Glen (Derek Keeling) matter-of-factly pops the question to Julia also. Oh, this can't go well...
The next day, however, Robbie's wildly vivacious fiancée Linda (the always scene-stealing Kelli Provart) decides to spontaneously ditch him at the altar, leaving only an insulting note to say goodbye—set to a monster-rock beat, natch. Angry, dejected and utterly humiliated, Robbie secludes himself in his basement bedroom inside the house he shares with his spunky, hip-for-her-age grandmother Rosie (Mary Jo Catlett from TV's Diff'rent Strokes).
He tries to drown his sorrows into a musical composition ("Somebody Kill Me," one of two memorable songs resuscitated from the movie), but, alas, remains angry at his life's stilted situation—despite the unconditional support of his bandmates and grandmother. As expected, the band's next wedding gig turns into a disaster, thanks to Robbie's inability to filter his now jaded thoughts about the institution of love and marriage. In order to avoid any repeated mishaps, the band decides to book only non-wedding reception gigs from then on—like bar mitzvahs!
