I talked about The Wedding Singer which will be playing at the Palace Theatre in Manchester from February 22 to March 1 on last Sunday's Matinee. Because of time constraints I was unable to tell you about my friend Lana's take on the show. First of all, for the few of you who read the blog and don't listen to the show (who am I kidding?) I'll go over the synopsis again. The Wedding Singer is another Hollywood movie adapted into a musical for theatre. It takes place in 1985, give or take a few years, in New Jersey. New Jersey, for your information, is located south and southeast of New York and is part of the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Many residents of New Jersey work in New York City and many are former residents of New York. The stereotypical New Jerseyan is brash and has a "Joisey" accent. The stereotype is someone who will curse you out one minute and give you the shirt off his back the next. To be honest, New Jerseyans are very similar to New Yorkers and, in fact, just as sophisticated (unless of course they're from the Joisey shore. Just kidding. I love the Jersey shore and spend a week with my friends Joan and Mike Duffy every summer at their beach house in Sea Isle City.) And no, not every resident of New Jersey is connected to the mob. Well, back to The Wedding Singer. Rock star wannabe, Robbie Hart (originally played by Stephen Lynch a musician and stand-up comedian), is a popular New Jersey wedding singer. He's the life of the party kinda guy until his fiance leaves him at the altar. He can't hide the fact that his heart is broken and makes every wedding he plays as disasterous as his own. His loyal band members and his grandma, Rosie, do all they can to help him out of his despair but to no avail. Enter Julia, a waitress, who is about to be married to a Wall Street (NY financial district) up and comer. Robbie falls hook, line and sinker for her and spends the rest of the show trying to win her over and persuade her that she is engaged to the wrong guy. The show garnered the gamut of reviews. Most loved it although felt it lacked the quirkiness of the 1998 movie starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Common to many of the reviews I read was the feeling that much of the music in the play which takes place in the '80's sounds more like '50's music except for a few dance numbers which evoke era-defining songs such as Thriller, Material Girl, and Flashdance. Of course, a wedding singer will sing an eclectic array of music so I don't think this criticism is valid.
Since I didn't see The Wedding Singer myself, I asked my friend Lana who did see it what she thought about it. Lana said she really enjoyed it. She said it was "a feel-good kind of play with fun, boppy music". Said it was "not great theatre but fun theatre and if you want a fun night out with your friends you'll love it".
Sounds like it's worth a trip down the aisle to see The Wedding Singer. So bring some rice, but leave the toilet paper and newspaper home (reference Rocky Horror Picture Show) and take yourself down to The Palace Theatre. Let me know what you think of it. You can email me at suko@matineeshow.co.uk.
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