The Wedding Singer

The Wedding Singer Musical stems from the hit film of the same name, starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Our leading man, Robbie Hart is the front man of the wedding band (Simply Wed) who gets jilted at the Alter. Working as a waitress is Julia and her cousin Holly. Julia is determined to ‘put a ring on it’ and when her rich and arrogant boyfriend Glen proposes she accepts in a heartbeat. Of course Robbie and Julia meet and Julia ends up helping Robbie get over his heart break in a way she may not have originally planned.

The writers of the musical have taken the humorous story of the film and 2 of the original songs and inserted numerous original numbers in place of the 1980’s pop tracks that were in the film. The result is not only a musical with a genuinely enjoyable and funny story but a great score to compliment it.

The show was well cast with Jon Robyns taking the lead as Robbie Hart and Cassie Compton as Julia. Jon had the perfect balance of humour and nice guy appeal with a voice that really suited the whole score. Cassie fitted as the girl next door well and her wide eyed awe was appealing in the role.

Ex X-factor contestant, Ray Quinn was the arrogant Glen. He did look slightly young for the part (looking younger than his 27 years), hampered by his baby face. This made it hard for me to believe he was a big shot on wall street and also that he was the right age to get married. That being said Quinn got the balance of arrogance right, too much and it becomes unbelievable that Julia would fall for him at all, not enough and you don’t root for Robbie enough. I really enjoyed Ruth Madoc’s performance of Grandma Rosie. She has some cracking lines and Madoc delivered them with glee and a cheeky grin. My only criticism with the casting was that I would have liked a bit more power during some of the belt moments from Stephanie Clift as Holly. Clift however got the character of Holly brilliantly, sluttly but loveable!!

My main criticism of the show would be the costumes. Often at times it just wasn’t in your face 1980’s enough. Holly’s and Rosie’s costume were about the only exception to this. Julia looked like she could have been walking down the street today and the wedding guests, especially the women, in many scenes were missing some iconic 80’s looks. I appreciate that not everyone was in all out crimped hair and lace gloves in the 1980’s but in a show that is so vibrant, some in your face shoulder pads wouldn’t have gone amiss.

The choreography by Nick Winston was one of the highlights of the night. Each number delivered something different and with the ensemble made up of exceptionally talented dancers I couldn’t wait for the next big production number. From the opening of ‘It’s Your Wedding Day’ with the husband and wife having a beautiful quasi ballroom routine through to ‘Single’ with the guys tapping their toes behind the bar. The choreography coupled with hit after hit within this show makes it worth the trip to the theatre alone!

The Wedding Singer is show you need to catch on this tour, with Jon as Robbie, stunning choreography and numbers you want to go home and listen to over and over again it’s one not to miss!

Find out more about the Wedding Singer tour by visiting their website.

If you liked this review you might also like my review of Footloose and All or Nothing, both at the Churchill Theatre and Dirty Dancing at the Orchard Theatre.