"Wedding Singer" musical may delight tourists

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Your fondness for 1980s nostalgia might get pushed to the breaking point in "The Wedding Singer," the new Broadway musical adaptation of the hit 1998

This highly unnecessary musicalization, produced by the same folks who brought you "Hairspray," throws in as many jokey references to that much-maligned decade as it can, and your appreciation of it will depend on your tolerance for endless jokes about such emblems of the era as A Flock of Seagulls and "Flashdance."

Singing comedian Stephen Lynch takes the Sandler role as Robbie Hart, the maturity-deprived suburban New Jersey wedding singer who falls in love with Julia (Laura Benanti), a beautiful waitress preparing for her impending nuptials to her obnoxious fiancée, Glen (Richard H. Blake). Looking on with varying levels of bemusement are the pair's friends and relatives, including Robbie's fitness and sex-obsessed granny (Rita Gardner), his bandmates (

What made the film work as well as it did was its two leads' off-kilter comic charm. Sadly, neither of their stage counterparts comes close to providing an approximation. Lynch is a likable and engaging performer, but he lacks Sandler's aggressive edge and comes off mainly as bland. Benanti, whose mature beauty makes her seem too old for her role (she's only 26, however), lacks the daffy air of eccentricity that would make her attraction to her co-star more credible. Lynch loses points, by the way, for adopting a flattering short haircut rather than the more period-appropriate mullet sported by Sandler in the film.

Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy's book, adapted from the latter's screenplay, is utterly formulaic in its plotting and characterizations and filled with comedic cliches from beginning to end. Such gags as Robbie's grandmother talking about sex or doing a rap number seemed tired even in the decade-old film. Whatever cleverness there is in the show stems more from the production design than the text, such as the views of Newark as seen from a revolving rooftop restaurant, the game of Pong projected on the curtain just before the second act, and the often hilarious costumes designed by Gregory Gale.

Not helping matters is the musical score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, which mainly consists of a series of bland rock and pop-style numbers that all too accurately recall the numbing banality of '80s-era pop music.

Director John Rando ("Urinetown") tries mightily to provide a wild comic exuberance to the proceedings, but the staging seems mostly haphazard. Several of the supporting performers do offer amusing turns, most notably Cahoon, as the gay band member who has modeled himself after Boy George and Spanger, who provides some real sexual sparks with her erotic striptease in the number "Let Me Come Home."

The show did seem to please the audience, and there might be enough Jersey tourists who will be delighted at its gentle sending up of their home state. But "The Wedding Singer" seems unlikely to provide New Line Cinema with another screen-to-stage-to-screen transformation a la its hugely successful "Hairspray."

Cast:

Robbie Hart: Stephen Lynch

Julia Sullivan: Laura Benanti

Rosie: Rita Gardner

Glen Guglia: Richard H. Blake

George: Kevin Cahoon

Linda: Felicia Finley

Sammy: Matthew Saldivar

Holly: Amy Spanger

Presented by Margo Lion, New Line Cinema, the Araca Group, Roy Furman, Douglas L. Meyer/James D. Stern, Rick Steiner/The Station Bell Osher Mayerson Group and Jam Theatricals in association with Jujamcyn Theatres and Jay Furman, Michael Gill, Dr. Lawrence Horowitz, Rhoda Mayerson, Marisa Sechrest, Gary Winnick, Dancap Productions Inc. and Elan V. McAllister/Allan S. Gordon/Adam Epstein

Music: Matthew Sklar; Book: Chad Beguelin, Tim Herlihy; Lyrics: Chad Beguelin; Director: John Rando; Choreographer: Rob Ashford; Set designer: Scott Pask; Costume designer: Gregory Gale; Lighting designer: Brian MacDevitt; Sound designer: Peter Hylenski.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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