Circle Players' THE WEDDING SINGER Runs 2/18-3/6

Nashville favorite Tyson Laemmel stars as Robbie, "a cheesy, but lovable New Jersey rocker" in Circle Players' upcoming production of The Wedding Singer, the upbeat romantic musical comedy that debuted on Broadway in 2006 and is based on the 1998 Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore movie. Starring opposite Laemmel is Laura Thomas Sonn as "a hopelessly romantic waitress."

The story revolves around a musician, who, after getting dumped at the altar by his fiancée, proceeds to sabotage every wedding he performs in - until he falls for a girl engaged to a slick Wall Street banker. The stage adaptation of The Wedding Singer garnered five Tony Award nominations before touring in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Circle Players' production is the first time the show's been done in the Nashville area which, according to director Paul Cook, makes it "a perfect show for a community theater setting."

"It's a charming and tender story. It's light, but it has heart and I think, that's what people expect to see - they want to see a love story," Cook says.

And a love story is exactly what audiences will get, Cook explains, one that's interspersed with plenty of drama and comedy. Robbie gets thrown into a dumpster, the audience gets to see a Bar Mitzvah plus there's an impromptu flight to Las Vegas, and there are plenty of songs, such as "It's Your Wedding Day," a hilariously funny ballad "Somebody Kill Me," and "All About the Green."

Sonn, who plays Robbie's love interest, says she is enjoying embracing her inner nerd when performing the role of Julia: "She has big dreams about love and relationships. She is a bit quirky,

always optimistic, a hopeless romantic. A very lovable person."

And a just like Julia, who's content working as a waitress, Robbie's not exactly the ambitious type, happy to be making a living playing music. He is, however, ready to start a family.

"I can relate to the stage in life that Robbie is going through," says Laemmel; even though he has never played the romantic lead in a show, he finds playing Robbie's not that hard an assigment: "What you see is what you get."

Most performers in this cast of 14 - which includes Nashville stage veteran and longtime Circle Players stalwart Layne Sasser as Robbie's grandmother - are new to Circle Players, and some have not been on stage in a long time, which Cook says is helpful rather than a hindrance.

"They bring such energy and enthusiasm to the show," he says, adding that he couldn't have wished for a better cast.

In conjunction with the show, Circle Players is partnering with the local non-profit organization Musicians on Call, which brings free live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities (www.musiciansoncall.org).

The show runs Friday, February 18, through Sunday, March 6, 2011, at the Larry Keaton Theatre on 108 Donelson Pike. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for students and seniors ages 60 and up. Children 6 and under attend free. All tickets are $10 on Thursdays. Group discounts are available.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.circleplayers.net or by phone (615) 332-7529. Individual tickets also will be on sale at the box office at the Keeton Theatre one hour before each performance.

Pictured: Tyson Laemmel and Laura Thomas Sonn/photo by Hatcher & Fell Photography

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