[NEohioPAL] "The Wedding Singer" opens soon in Akron

[Jan Harcar]

Weathervane Playhouse's 'The Wedding Singer'

Takes Audiences on a Laugh-Yourself-Silly Trip 

Back to 1985! 

  Musical Comedy based on 1998 film starring Adam Sandler



Comb your mullet, grab your Madonna-inspired fluorescent hair ribbons, don your Flashdance-style leg warmers and reach for your super-sized "car phone" as Weathervane Playhouse turns back the clock to 1985 with The Wedding Singer, a laugh-yourself-silly musical comedy -- live on stage from June 3 to 27, 2010.



The time is 1985 and the place is Ridgefield, New Jersey. Sweet-natured Robbie Hart might be New Jersey's favorite wedding-band singer, but he's stuck living in his quirky grandmother's basement as he struggles to lift himself out of musical obscurity. When his fiancée ditches him, Robbie tries to put aside his sarcastic bitterness and win the heart of sweet Julia. Trouble is, she's already engaged to someone else!



Featuring original songs by composer Matthew Sklar and lyricist Chad Beguelin -- and based on the much-loved 1998 New Line Cinema film starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore -- the stage-musical version of The Wedding Singer serves up nostalgic Reagan-era fun, romance and laughs aplenty. Even Wedding Singer fans who've worn out their VHS copies of the original film version will delight in seeing the film's loveable characters take to the stage and also discover a fun, catchy 1980s-pop-music-influenced score.



With direction and choreography by Pierre-Jacques Brault and musical direction by Margaret Knepper, Weathervane Playhouse's The Wedding Singer promises -- as a Valley Girl might say -- totally awesome, totally tubular, gnarly, mondo-awesome fun -- for sure!

 

The Show's Acting Ensemble

Jason Leupold (Robbie Hart)

Erin Diroll (Julia Sullivan)

James Dickason (Glen Gulia)

Elizabeth Casper (Holly)

Aaron Schoonover (Sammy)

Joshua S. Hughes (George)

Karen L. Wood (Rosie)

Christine Batten (Linda)

Kate Leigh Michalski (Angie)

Elizabeth Bancroft (Ensemble/understudy for Linda)

Treviel Cody (Ensemble/Priest)

Aaron Daar (Ensemble/understudy for George)

Jennifer A. Davies (Ensemble)

Brittany Lynne Eckstrom (Ensemble/Donatella)

Aaron Keen (Ensemble/understudy for George)

Kristopher Ray North (Ensemble)

Samantha Rickard (Ensemble/Bridesmaid)

Nicholas Rogers (Ensemble/Shane)

Justin Charles Schickler (Ensemble/Father-of-the-Bride)

Tina Thompkins (Ensemble/Tina Turner)

Kristin Weibel (Dance Captain/Swing)



The Show's Creative Team

Pierre-Jacques Brault (Director and Choreographer)

Margaret Knepper (Musical Director)

Robyn Cooper (Stage Manager)

Jeff Bixby (Assistant Stage Manager)

Christine Schueneman (Costume Designer)

Kevin Ford (Lighting Designer)

Dan "D.J." Jankura (Sound Designer)

Todd Dieringer (Properties Co-Designer)

Erin Katz Ford (Properties Co-Designer)

Alan Scott Ferrall (Scenic Designer and Technical Director)

Kathy Kohl (Assistant Technical Director)



About the Show's Director and Choreographer

PIERRE-JACQUES BRAULT is a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College's Music Theatre Department and is the co-founder of Mercury Summer Stock, which enters its thirteenth season this summer at Parma Little Theatre. He has directed countless shows, ranging from full-scale musicals (such as Evita and Annie) to lesser-known plays (including Never the Sinner). His favorite directing credit was putting together the critically acclaimed musical Honk! As an actor, Pierre has worked with Broadway legends Donna McKechnie and Pamela Myers and has assisted some of today's top directors and choreographers, including Cleveland's own Victoria Bussert. Weathervane Playhouse audiences saw him in the 2008 Dietz Theater production of Love! Valour! Compassion!, in which he played Ramon. His work has also been seen at Cain Park, Willoughby Fine Arts, Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, Geauga Lyric Theatre Guild, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Virginia Musical Theatre and Stagedoor Manor, a theatrical camp in upstate New York. 



About the Show's Musical Director

MARGARET KNEPPER has a long career as an actor, singer, director, music director, and costume designer. She is very happy to be back to music direct The Wedding Singer. For many years Margaret was both a director and music director for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat here at the theatre. She was also involved with many youth theatre productions and taught musical theatre classes. Her favorite shows at Weathervane include Sweeney Todd in which she played Mrs. Lovett, My Way, Working, Nunsense and A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She has also appeared on stage and off with the Cleveland Opera, the former Goodyear Community Theatre, and Porthouse Theatre.

For thirty years Margaret ran a private voice, flute and piano studio in Medina and directed many musicals at Medina High School.  She was also co-director of the schools show choir. In 2000, she had the opportunity to work on the wardrobe crew of the Tina Turner 24/7 tour. In her "spare" time Margaret works as a church organist, free lance musician and substitute teacher for the Cuyahoga Falls School system.

  

About the Show's History

The world premiere of The Wedding Singer took place in February 2006 at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington. The show opened on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on April 27, 2006, where it played for a total of 285 performances before closing on Dec. 31, 2006. The original Broadway production was directed by John Rando; the choreographer was Rob Ashford. The show received five Tony Award nominations ( Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Choreography), eight Drama Desk Award nominations and three Drama League Award nominations. The first national tour of the musical traveled across the United States from August 2007 to June 2008. The second national tour opened in September 2009 and remained on the road in the United States and Canada through March 2010. The Wedding Singer has also been produced in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, Australia and Spain.

 

About the Show's Creators 

Composer MATTHEW SKLAR was born in 1973 and grew up in Westfield, New Jersey. In 1991, he graduated as a composition major from the Juilliard School Pre-College Division and then continued his studies at New York University. He began working on Broadway at the age of 18 as an associate conductor or rehearsal pianist for such shows as Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Titanic, On the Town, Annie Get Your Gun, Putting It Together, 42nd Street, Oklahoma!, Nine and Caroline, or Change. He is the recipient of the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theater Award and the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award. 

 

Lyricist and co-book writer CHAD BEGUELIN was born in 1969. He holds a Master's of Fine Arts from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts (from its graduate writing program). With his Wedding Singer collaborator Matthew Sklar, his other plays include The Rhythm Club and Wicked City. He is the recipient of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, the Edward Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyric Writing and the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theater Award. He lives in New York City. 

 

Co-book writer TIM HERLIHY was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1966. A frequent collaborator with Adam Sandler, he is a graduate of New York University School of Law. He wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film The Wedding Singer, the source material for the stage musical. His other screenplays include Bedtime Stories, Mr. Deeds, Little Nicky, Big Daddy, The Waterboy, Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. He also served as staff writer for NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live from 1993 to 2000.



Ticket and Performance Information

The Wedding Singer plays on Weathervane Playhouse's Founders Theater stage from June 3 to 27, 2010.

The low-cost preview performance is Thursday, June 3 at 7:30 p.m.; the official opening-night performance is Friday, June 4 at 8 p.m.



Between June 3 and 27, performance days and times are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.



Tickets for the June 3 preview performance only are $18. Tickets for performances after June 3 are $24.



$21 tickets for seniors and college students are available for Thursday and Sunday performances only. Tickets for children ages 17 and younger are $19.50 for all performances after June 3. Discounted tickets are also available for groups of 12 or larger. 

For tickets, call the Weathervane Box Office at (330) 836-2626 or connect online to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com.



The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

 

Additional 2009-2010 Season Sponsors: 89.7 WKSU-FM, The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, The Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust, KeyBank Trustee


Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2323 X16
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com
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