The Wedding Singer
Y
April 28, 2006
Al Hirschfeld Theatre,
New York
(Runs indefinitely)
Your fondness for 1980s nostalgia might get pushed to the breaking point in "The Wedding Singer," the new Broadway musical adaptation of the hit 1998 Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore film comedy. This highly unnecessary musicalization, produced by the same folks who brought you "Hairspray," throws in as many jokey references to that much-maligned decade as it can, and your appreciation of it will depend on your tolerance for endless jokes about such emblems of the era as A Flock of Seagulls and "Flashdance."
Singing comedian Stephen Lynch takes the Sandler role as Robbie Hart, the maturity-deprived suburban New Jersey wedding singer who falls in love with Julia (Laura Benanti), a beautiful waitress preparing for her impending nuptials to her obnoxious fiance, Glen (Richard H. Blake). Looking on with varying levels of bemusement are the pair's friends and relatives, including Robbie's fitness and sex-obsessed granny (Rita Gardner), his bandmates (Kevin Cahoon, Matthew Saldivar), and Julia's sexpot friend Holly (Amy Spanger).
What made the film work as well as it did was its two leads' off-kilter comic charm. Sadly, neither of their stage counterparts comes close to providing an approximation. Lynch is a likable and engaging performer, but he lacks Sandler's aggressive edge and comes off mainly as bland. Benanti, whose mature beauty makes her seem too old for her role (she's only 26, however), lacks the daffy air of eccentricity that would make her attraction to her co-star more credible. Lynch loses points, by the way, for adopting a flattering short haircut rather than the more period-appropriate mullet sported by Sandler in the film.
Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy's book, adapted from the latter's screenplay, is utterly formulaic in its plotting and characterizations and filled with comedic cliches from beginning to end. Such gags as Robbie's grandmother talking about sex or doing a rap number seemed tired even in the decade-old film. Whatever cleverness there is in the show stems more from the production design than the text, such as the views of Newark as seen from a revolving rooftop restaurant, the game of Pong projected on the curtain just before the second act, and the often hilarious costumes designed by Gregory Gale.
Not helping matters is the musical score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, which mainly consists of a series of bland rock and pop-style numbers that all too accurately recall the numbing banality of '80s-era pop music.
Director John Rando ("Urinetown") tries mightily to provide a wild comic exuberance to the proceedings, but the staging seems mostly haphazard. Several of the supporting performers do offer amusing turns, most notably Cahoon, as the gay band member who has modeled himself after Boy George and Spanger, who provides some real sexual sparks with her erotic striptease in the number "Let Me Come Home."
The show did seem to please the audience, and there might be enough Jersey tourists who will be delighted at its gentle sending up of their home state. But "The Wedding Singer" seems unlikely to provide New Line Cinema with another screen-to-stage-to-screen transformation a la its hugely successful "Hairspray."
The Wedding Singer
Presented by Margo Lion, New Line Cinema, the Araca Group, Roy Furman, Douglas L. Meyer/James D. Stern, Rick Steiner/The Station Bell Osher Mayerson Group and Jam Theatricals in association with Jujamcyn Theatres and Jay Furman, Michael Gill, Dr. Lawrence Horowitz, Rhoda Mayerson, Marisa Sechrest, Gary Winnick, Dancap Productions Inc. and Elan V. McAllister/Allan S. Gordon/Adam Epstein
Credits:
Music: Matthew Sklar
Book: Chad Beguelin, Tim Herlihy
Lyrics: Chad Beguelin
Director: John Rando
Choreographer: Rob Ashford
Set designer: Scott Pask
Costume designer: Gregory Gale
Lighting designer: Brian MacDevitt
Sound designer: Peter Hylenski
Cast:
Robbie Hart: Stephen Lynch
Julia Sullivan: Laura Benanti
Rosie: Rita Gardner
Glen Guglia: Richard H. Blake
George: Kevin Cahoon
Linda: Felicia Finley
Sammy: Matthew Saldivar
Holly: Amy Spanger
New York
(Runs indefinitely)
Your fondness for 1980s nostalgia might get pushed to the breaking point in "The Wedding Singer," the new Broadway musical adaptation of the hit 1998 Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore film comedy. This highly unnecessary musicalization, produced by the same folks who brought you "Hairspray," throws in as many jokey references to that much-maligned decade as it can, and your appreciation of it will depend on your tolerance for endless jokes about such emblems of the era as A Flock of Seagulls and "Flashdance."
Singing comedian Stephen Lynch takes the Sandler role as Robbie Hart, the maturity-deprived suburban New Jersey wedding singer who falls in love with Julia (Laura Benanti), a beautiful waitress preparing for her impending nuptials to her obnoxious fiance, Glen (Richard H. Blake). Looking on with varying levels of bemusement are the pair's friends and relatives, including Robbie's fitness and sex-obsessed granny (Rita Gardner), his bandmates (Kevin Cahoon, Matthew Saldivar), and Julia's sexpot friend Holly (Amy Spanger).
What made the film work as well as it did was its two leads' off-kilter comic charm. Sadly, neither of their stage counterparts comes close to providing an approximation. Lynch is a likable and engaging performer, but he lacks Sandler's aggressive edge and comes off mainly as bland. Benanti, whose mature beauty makes her seem too old for her role (she's only 26, however), lacks the daffy air of eccentricity that would make her attraction to her co-star more credible. Lynch loses points, by the way, for adopting a flattering short haircut rather than the more period-appropriate mullet sported by Sandler in the film.
Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy's book, adapted from the latter's screenplay, is utterly formulaic in its plotting and characterizations and filled with comedic cliches from beginning to end. Such gags as Robbie's grandmother talking about sex or doing a rap number seemed tired even in the decade-old film. Whatever cleverness there is in the show stems more from the production design than the text, such as the views of Newark as seen from a revolving rooftop restaurant, the game of Pong projected on the curtain just before the second act, and the often hilarious costumes designed by Gregory Gale.
Not helping matters is the musical score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, which mainly consists of a series of bland rock and pop-style numbers that all too accurately recall the numbing banality of '80s-era pop music.
Director John Rando ("Urinetown") tries mightily to provide a wild comic exuberance to the proceedings, but the staging seems mostly haphazard. Several of the supporting performers do offer amusing turns, most notably Cahoon, as the gay band member who has modeled himself after Boy George and Spanger, who provides some real sexual sparks with her erotic striptease in the number "Let Me Come Home."
The show did seem to please the audience, and there might be enough Jersey tourists who will be delighted at its gentle sending up of their home state. But "The Wedding Singer" seems unlikely to provide New Line Cinema with another screen-to-stage-to-screen transformation a la its hugely successful "Hairspray."
The Wedding Singer
Presented by Margo Lion, New Line Cinema, the Araca Group, Roy Furman, Douglas L. Meyer/James D. Stern, Rick Steiner/The Station Bell Osher Mayerson Group and Jam Theatricals in association with Jujamcyn Theatres and Jay Furman, Michael Gill, Dr. Lawrence Horowitz, Rhoda Mayerson, Marisa Sechrest, Gary Winnick, Dancap Productions Inc. and Elan V. McAllister/Allan S. Gordon/Adam Epstein
Credits:
Music: Matthew Sklar
Book: Chad Beguelin, Tim Herlihy
Lyrics: Chad Beguelin
Director: John Rando
Choreographer: Rob Ashford
Set designer: Scott Pask
Costume designer: Gregory Gale
Lighting designer: Brian MacDevitt
Sound designer: Peter Hylenski
Cast:
Robbie Hart: Stephen Lynch
Julia Sullivan: Laura Benanti
Rosie: Rita Gardner
Glen Guglia: Richard H. Blake
George: Kevin Cahoon
Linda: Felicia Finley
Sammy: Matthew Saldivar
Holly: Amy Spanger
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