Seattle Review: The Wedding Singer

Since The Producers stormed Broadway in 2001, it seems that every season has at least one new musical bent on winking at the audience as much as possible. Some are done with great wit, while others rely on gimmicks to coast by. The Wedding Singer, which opened last night at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, is another campy nostalgia piece struggling to find its identity. Some promise is present, but a reluctance to embrace the central love story looms over the entire production. There are flashy musical numbers, knock-out performances, and plenty of fun. What this Wedding Singer is missing is the heart and soul that makes musical comedy worth watching.

Based on the popular film of the same name, the stage adaptation is never clear about what it wants to be. The plot surrounds stuck-in-a-rut wedding singer Robbie Hart (Stephen Lynch) and quirky waitress Julia Sullivan (Laura Benanti), who is engaged to the biggest jerk on the planet. Robbie and Julia soon fall in love, and face many struggles on the way to happiness. But the love story is lost in a production that is more about the 1980's than anything else. In the film, the 80's were used as a backdrop for a sweet love story. Here, the 80's becomes the main character.

The main problem lies in Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy's fragmented book, which seems bent on pulling out every pop culture reference from the 80's instead of giving a backbone to the central story. The audience is taken on a walk down memory lane, and we are reminded about everything from the 80's. From the McRib sandwich to Ferris Bueller (which came out a year after the show is set, but whatever), Beguelin and Herlihy bombard us with every overused reference in the book. While these types of jokes added quirky humor to the film, here they pull too much focus due to the sheer multitude of their appearances. A few moments of nostalgia are fun, but the shtick soon grows old and cheap. The book also overuses three annoying, often offensive attempts at humor: 1.) Old ladies saying naughty things, 2.) Effeminate gay men, and 3.) Gigantic cell phones. These jokes are recycled over and over, pushing the love story deeper into oblivion. An awful lot of time is spent on countless wink-wink-nudge-nudge jokes about the future.

Beguelin's lyrics also do a disservice to the material, making the actors break out of character to recite cliché 80's references. This really is a shame, because Matthew Sklar's music is quite good, and often provides a great sonic texture. His music is deliciously 80's while maintaining theatricality. But Beguelin's lyrics often work against the music, and there are few songs that actually evolve out of the plot. Instead, most of the musical numbers stop the show from flowing naturally. The catchy opening number "It's Your Wedding Day" is a great start, and introduces us to Robbie and the 80's in an unforced manner. But the 80's quickly take over, and laughs seem more important than artistry. Julia has the lovely "Wonder" and Robbie and Julia duet in the sumptuous "If I Told You". Both songs fit their moments perfectly, and do the material justice. But songs like "All About the Green", "Single", and "Move That Thing" rely on 80's humor too much to matter. These jokes are well intentioned, but lack originality and significance. The unique lyricism found in the songs of the 80's is abandoned in favor of a reflective style that doesn't seem appropriate.

Julia and Robbie also lack the quiet moments at the beginning of their relationship to hook the audience into caring. "Not That Kind of Thing" attempts to show the evolution of their love, but instead becomes another loud production number about the 80's. "Come Out of the Dumpster" seems more about Julia getting Robbie out of an actual dumpster than the friendship builder it should be. It just doesn't seem realistic that actual people would talk this much about the time period they are in. This reflective attitude towards the period prevents the audience from caring completely for hero and heroine. By the time Julia and Robbie have an honest moment in Act II, the audience is too hyped up from what looks very much like an episode of "I Love the 80's".

Filling the shoes of Adam Sandler, Stephen Lynch never gives the break-out performance that he is more than capable of . He is in superb voice, but his comic timing is a bit off, mostly due to the book's inability to decide what to keep and cut from the film script. His Robbie never finds focus, and gets lost in all of the flashy gimmicks. Though the stage score is new, it does use Sandler's two movie songs. Lynch is forced to do a dead-on Adam Sandler impersonation in "Somebody Kill Me", which here is a soliloquy rather than an honest moment between Robbie and Julia. Taking Julia out of the equation makes the song not only misplaced, but tacky. Instead of capturing Robbie's anger, it becomes a cheap attempt to capitalize on one of the most recognizable moments from the film. The second film song "Grow Old With You" has also changed locations, in a brand new ending that takes away a lot of the sweetness and the "it was meant-to-be" nature of the original. The plane is now a Vegas chapel full of 80's icon impersonators, resulting in a blurry mess. All of this gets big laughs, but one still wishes it had all been approached from a need to tell the story. If the story is good, the humor should evolve naturally from the characters and the situations.

Lynch also lacks significant chemistry with the talented Laura Benanti. Benanti is simply miscast, and is unable to negotiate the musical comedy. She is an intelligent actress, but her need to root everything in deep subtext just doesn't work here. In a cast full of larger-than-life performances, Benanti seems very out of place. She is in superb voice, and soars easily through her songs, but lacks the effortless naivety that Drew Barrymore excelled at on screen.  She is more ethereal than goofy.

The supporting cast does well in roles that often take too much of the focus from the two leads. Amy Spanger steals most of her scenes as Julia's best friend Holly. Spanger dances and belts up a storm, in a part that fits her perfectly. She soars in the Act I finale "Saturday Night in the City", but often makes one forget about Robbie and Julia. A fun bit at the end of the number takes the focus away from Robbie's plight. Her big solo "Right in Front of Your Eyes" also prevents the evolution of the key story at a crucial moment. Felicia Finley is genius as Linda, the woman who dumped Robbie at the altar. Finley gives a fierce performance, and gets the superb Act II song "Let Me Come Home" that looses some of its punch due to an ill conceived Act I appearance. Still, the writers manage to integrate plot and period seamlessly, and give Finley's antagonist a distinct musical style.

Stage legend Rita Gardner (Rosie) and the always reliable Kevin Cahoon (George) shine in peculiar supporting roles. Taking away Robbie and Rosie's music lessons from the film and replacing them with a showbiz song about sex seems unnecessary, and a missed opportunity at a great musical moment. Cahoon gets plenty of laughs and fits best into the era, but it often seems like the audience is being allowed to laugh at George's homosexuality rather than celebrate it. Richard H, Blake does his best with the underwritten fiance Glen Guglia, who is never allowed to be the true antagonist he should be.  All attempts to make him sing fail, and he often becomes an afterthought. 

A competent design team has been assembled, effectively capturing all of the visuals of the 80's. Instead of joke after joke, Scott Pask's Rubik's Cube inspired set and Gregory Gale's detailed period costumes should be in charge of evoking the era. The designs are superb, but seem like overload with all the 80's lingo. Rob Ahsford's energetic choreography feels forced at times, and bent on showing us every dance of the 80's rather than expressing character. How many times do we need to see "the robot"?

Director John Rando and his team desperately need to find focus. Disjointed and random, The Wedding Singer often sings at the right moments but rarely reveals what is true and crucial. This adaptation struggles against the film, never knowing what to keep, change, or abandon. A story about two lost souls has been largely ignored in favor of all the accessories and gaudiness of the era. The truth isn't visible in this sea of overused shtick. In its current form, The Wedding Singer is more of a nostalgic dinosaur than a legitimate musical comedy. 

The Wedding Singer plays through February 19th at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre. For tickets call (206) 292-ARTS or visit www.ticketmaster.com. It is scheduled to begin previews at Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theatre on March 30th, with an opening of April 27th.

Top Photo: Stephen Lynch and Company

Middle Photo: Stephen Lynch and Laura Benanti

Bottom Photo: Amy Spanger

All Photos by Joan Marcus

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