[NEohioPAL] Review of "The Wedding Singer" at Mercury Summer Stock

[Bob Abelman via NEohioPAL]

Mercury Summer Stock revitalizes 'The Wedding Singer' musical

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

 

Movies turned into stage musicals, such as the recent Broadway production of "Rocky," loose something in translation.  Cinematic grandeur and technologically-enriched storytelling are traded in for the spontaneity of live theater and the allure of music and lyrics.

 

Missing most from Chad Beguelin, Tim Herlihy and Matthew Sklar's "The Wedding Singer" musical - which ran briefly on Broadway in 2006 and replicates the 1998 flick starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore - is Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

 

It's 1985 and New Jersey, and wedding singer Robbie Hart is living in his grandma's basement.  Heartbroken after being left at the altar by his fiancé, his only salvation is Julie, a waitress who is engaged to the wrong man.  Her only salvation is Robbie.  

 

In the film, Sandler's sophomoric persona turned mediocre writing into truly funny moments. Barrymore's charm turned saccharine romantic comedy into earnest exchanges.  And their on-screen chemistry created endearing characters, which more than compensated for the film's other creative shortcomings.  

 

Without these two performers, the stage version relies on a never-ending series of jokes about the 1980s for its humor, quirkiness in the place of truly interesting characters, and more musical numbers than its paper-thin storyline can support.

 

And yet Mercury Summer Stock's very game director and choreographer, Pierre Brault, and his gifted designers and performers turn "The Wedding Singer" into something thoroughly enjoyable.

 

For more of this review, go to: 

 

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/article_aac2d950-1ce3-11e4-8a88-001a4bcf887a.html
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