‘The Wedding Singer’ Is the Disaster-in-Love We Need Right Now
Filled with laughs and a cast of 30, Western Washington Center for the Arts’ The Wedding Singer brings the hit ’90s comedy to the live musical stage. It runs through May 19 in Port Orchard.
That wasn’t me, that was my evil twin: Drunky McWasted.
If you’ve ever had a messy moment you’d rather forget, The Wedding Singer is here to remind you someone has always done it messier. Or if you see yourself a little too much on stage, at least you’re in good company.
The Wedding Singer musical is not a cast album I enjoy (that’s a tiny club), and there’s a good chance I wouldn’t like this goofy-sweet romantic comedy much performed on a big stage, either. But in WWCA’s version, with a cast of 30 packed in and popping on from every entrance, it feels like just the right level of chaos-meets-intimacy.
Real-life couple Marshall and Sydney Banks star as will-they/won’t-they new friends Robbie Hart, a wedding singer, and Julia Sullivan, a waitress and bride-to-be. Both are in relationships. Neither seems particularly satisfied in them. So when Robbie and his guitar bunker down to write a love song, with “pancreas” and “formaldehyde” among the uninspired lyrical stars in his couplets, Julia senses he can do better. Insecure Robbie, however, knows he’s no match for Julia’s flashy Wall Street fiancé Glen Guglia (Alex Clark), despite his sleaze factor. Obviously, it takes them each a while to realize they can do better, and (spoiler alert) better is each other.
Highlighted by the Banks-and-Banks chemistry and Marshall Banks’ guitar and vocals, some of Robbie’s lowest points are high points of the show: the morose-and-aggro swings, so big they’re comedic rather than depressing, of “Somebody Kill Me”; and the duo’s first real exchange, in an unlikely setting (“Come Out of the Dumpster”). They’ve got an unfair advantage on the chemistry, of course, but it’s a satisfying stage coupling when you actually want these two to link up, whether she’s pulling his miserable self out of the literal pile of trash or they’re making sweet music together (“If I Told You,” “Grow Old With You”).
Other highlights: the plentiful track suits, blacklight glow, and throwback pieces (a Members Only jacket, a Reagan-Bush ticket crewneck); comic caricature from granny Rosie (Sasha Alamano) and drama-stirring from Holly (Katie Richardson) and Linda (Abby Dickson); a quartet of impersonator toughs (Kenadi Allen as Mr. T, Nevaeh Bios as Tina Turner, Sarah Conte-Bacolini as Cyndi Lauper, Donna Llewellyn as Billy Idol, and Dante True as Imelda Marcos); the huge ensemble cast, with band-member ringleaders George (Patrickryan Wright) and Sammy (George Shaw); and Artistic Director/show director Rebecca Ewen’s careful choreography that managed to fit them all on stage.
This show’s a lot of fun; and with so much going on, it moves lightning-fast, too.
It’s also the last chance you have to see a show at WWCA’s longtime stage. (At the show, Ewen made a big announcement that they’ve found a new location, moving a block away to 626 Bay Street. But it’ll take some time to make the new house a home.)
*
‘The Wedding Singer: The Musical Comedy’ book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy; music by Matthew Sklar; Lyrics by Chad Beguelin; based on the 1998 New Line Cinema film.
Performed by Sasha Alamano, Kenadi Allen, Marshall Banks, Sydney Banks, Ian Bear (Eric Richardson on the night I saw), Neveah Bios, Brick Cardinal, Alex Clark, Sarah Conte-Bacolini, Abby Dickson, Trevor Easely, James Evans, Ryleigh Gist, David Johnson, Donna Llewellyn, Dannen Oliver, Maile Olsen, Katie Richardson, George Shaw, Sam Shaw, Abigail Sheed, Sayre Thompson, Dante True, Courtney Turnley, Troy Turnley, Heather Werkheiser, Ronni Wolfe, Sydney Wolfe, Tyson Wolfe, and Patrickryan Wright.
The Wedding Singer runs through 5/19 at Western Washington Center for the Arts, in Port Orchard. Tickets ($22) here. Accessibility notes: restrooms are gendered and multi-stall; theatre and some common areas are wheelchair accessible.
Run time: 2 hours 35 minutes, with intermission.
Chase D. Anderson is Editor & Producer of NWTheatre.org.