Book by Chad Beguelin
& Tim Herlihy
Music by Matthew
Sklar
Lyrics by Chad
Beguelin
Directed by Amy
Dunham and Sarah Hull
Musical Director:
Jenna Hinton
Choreographer: Emma
Nichols
Queanbeyan Players Inc.
The Q Theatre, Queanbeyan to 1 July
Reviewed by Len Power 22 June 2018
A romantic movie, where a chance meeting leads to a happy
ending after lots of trouble along the way, is an appealing formula. I remember being charmed by the original 1998
movie of ‘The Wedding Singer’ as well as ‘Sleepless In Seattle’, ‘When Harry
Met Sally’ and so on.
Co-directors Amy Dunham and Sarah Hull have given us a
bright, cheerful production of the stage musical version of ‘The Wedding
Singer’, which originally played on Broadway in 2006.
Dave Smith shines as the wedding singer, Robbie, with a
strong, likeable characterization and fine singing. Emily Ridge is totally believable with a warm
and endearing performance as Julia and sings very well, too.
Josie Dunham and Tim Stiles sang and acted their roles well and
were especially enjoyable with their song ‘Right In Front Of Your Eyes’. Michael Jordan was fine as Julia’s oafish
fiancé, Glen, but needed to put more energy and sharpness into his big song,
‘All About The Green’. Lauren Nihill was
terrific as Grandma.
As George, David Santolin displayed a good sense of comic
timing and got the laughs in the right places, but the ‘funny effeminate gay
friend’ cliché as written is getting a bit old-fashioned these days. Emma White performed strongly as
ex-girlfriend, Linda, but it was hard to believe that Robbie would have been
interested in a character like that.
There was some great work by the large ensemble who sing and
dance with infectious enthusiasm.
Choreographer, Emma Nichols, has given the cast good moves that they
handle very well. Costume Design by Lara
Jurkiewicz was thoughtfully and colourfully in period and worked for the
characters of the performers.
The simply designed sets by Steve Galinec and Anita
Davenport worked fine and the colourful lighting design by Jacob Brown added a
lot of atmosphere. Sound levels between
band and singers were fine. Musical
director, Jenna Hinton, has done an excellent job with the music, which was
well-played.
This is an undemanding, uncomplicated show that has been
nicely staged and performed. The charm
of the original story is still there and it’s very entertaining.
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast on his ‘On Stage’ performing arts radio program on Mondays
and Wednesdays from 3.30pm on Artsound FM 92.7.
