BWW Reviews: THE WEDDING SINGER from Nashville's Circle Players

Laura Thomas Sonn and Tyson Laemmel are two of the most talented, engaging, charming and capable musical theater stars to be found in Nashville and they bring such joy and life to their characters in The Wedding Singer that it's easy to overlook the problems with the show. Now onstage in a buoyant production from Circle Players, directed with style by Paul J. Cook, The Wedding Singer is only one of the latest examples in the current trend of movies made into stage musicals - and that's one trend I am so ready to be over.

Like so many such shows before it, The Wedding Singer begs the question: Why? Why did Matthew Sklar, Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy feel the need to craft a stage musical out of what I am assured (since I've only seen bits and pieces of the movie) is a perfectly good film comedy? Don't get me wrong - Sonn and Laemmel are terrific and they are joined onstage by an amazing cast (including particularly impressive turns from Heather Trabucco, EVan Williams, Stacie Riggs and Layne Sasser) that truly delivers the goods and the show is pleasantly diverting - but does it really add to the rich cultural heritage of musical theater? What do you think?

The musical's book, co-written by Herlihy (who wrote the screenplay) and Beguelin, focuses on the romantic travails of Robbie Hart (Laemmel), the wedding singer of the title, who's ditched at the altar on his own wedding day and who ultimately finds the heart to pursue love again in the person of banquet hall waitress Julia (Sonn). Set in 1980s New Jersey, there are some genuinely funny lines tossed about and enough references to the passing fads of the era to make you chuckle (hell, you may even laugh out loud now and again), given that retrospective vision is always 20/20. But the overall script is no better than a TV sitcom of the era. Think The Facts of Life Gets Dance Fever and you'll have a pretty good idea of what transpires onstage in The Wedding Singer. This musical stroll down memory lane probably works better for people born in the '80s (as most of the cast members were) than for people who actually fell in love - and got dumped - in the '80s (like a cynical theater critic, for example).

That being said, Cook does a great job in bringing The Wedding Singer to the stage. Action moves quickly, scene transitions are handled well (if somewhat clunkily, at times) and the entire cast seems to have a grand time telling their story. Musical numbers are well-staged, even if Laura Marsh's choreography often seems a tad plodding and heavy-footed, and the songs are certainly given their due by the top-flight assemblage of singers onstage and Thom Garrison's capable ensemble of musicians.

The show-opening "It's Your Wedding Day," which is probably the best known of the tunes from the score, is upbeat and energetic and, quite frankly, is a terrific way to set the tone for the proceedings. Several of the songs are very tuneful, like the Act One closer "Saturday Night in the City," which gives Trabucco a terrific opportunity to showcase her remarkable talents (her second act "Right in Front of Your Eyes" is also a highlight) and Stacie Riggs' "A Note from Linda" (in which Robbie is jilted at the altar by his "skanky whore" of a fiancee) and "Let Me Come Home" are wonderfully staged and performed. "If I Told You," a lovely duet performed by the golden-voiced Sonn and Laemmel is a tender love song that succeeds despite the show's shortcomings. Much of the music sounds derivative (which is to be expected, I suppose, from a show that's essentially a love letter to the shoulder-padded decade of excess) and many of the lyrics rely on rhyme schemes that are so predictable you can finish the lines yourself.

Laemmel is one of the best singers you'll find on any Nashville stage (his voice shines like a beacon on "It's Your Wedding Day" and that may be why the number is so good) and he has charm to spare, infusing the lovelorn character of Robbie with so much likability that you can't help but be pulling for the poor schlub to find his true love. He's ideally paired with the beautiful Sonn, whose talents belie her good looks: Laura Thomas Sonn not only looks like an angel, but she sings like one too. With the acting chops to deliver any role with grace, she makes Julia all the more appealing with her genuine performance.

Heather Trabucco, playing Julia's best pal/cousin Holly, may be the true revelation of the cast, however, with her excellent performance. She's got a knock-your-socks-off voice that is staggering and she performs her songs with the seasoned confidence of a stage veteran. Trabucco plays the slightly tarty Holly with the right amount of heart that keeps her from being a slut - that, thankfully, is reserved for Stacie Riggs' on-point performance as Linda, Robbie's sexy, skanky ex. Riggs gives a no-holds-barred portrayal of Linda, elevating a largely unlikable stereotype to a real starmaking turn. Dripping brash bravado with a huge helping of confidence, she takes no prisoners with her knock-out performance.

EVan Williams, cast as Robbie's best friend Sammy, is the perfect blend of sweet naivete and sheer 1980s chutzpah, playing him with a pitch-perfect ease while displaying great self-assurance as an actor. Chad Webb very nearly steals every scene he's in as Robbie's fey Boy George-inspired bandmate, George (clever, huh?) and very competently walks the tightrope between stereotype and full-throttle comic turn. Trey Palmer, who does yeoman service as practically every other male character in the script, is in fine form as Julia's preppy monster of a fiance Glen Gulia and is in fine voice in the Act Two opening number "All About the Green," backed up by the women of the ensemble.

And, finally, there is one Layne Sasser (perhaps Nashville's most beloved comic actress, who will be the first to tell you that she is no singer) yet, here she is, cast as Robbie's firecracker of a grandmother Rosie, and proving that she can, indeed, do anything she sets her mind to - even sing. Delivering a sweet "Note from Grandma" in Act One and totally setting the stage ablaze with her not-so-grandmotherly rap entitled "Move That Thang" (in a raucous duet with Webb's George), Sasser proves that she can hold her own on any stage.

Set designer Macon Kimbrough (who makes a couple of cameo appearances as both a drunken bum and as "fake Ronald Reagan") deserves special praise for his efforts in creating the show's multi-purpose set which at one minute is a New Jersey reception hall and the next a New York City disco.

- The Wedding Singer. Music by Matthew Sklar. Lyrics by Chad Beguelin. Book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy. Directed by Paul J. Cook. Choreographed by Laura Marsh. Music direction by Thom Garrison. Presented by Circle Players, at Donelson's Larry Keeton Theatre. Through March 6. For details, visit the company website at www.circleplayers.net.

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