| The Wedding Singer Through April 9, 2011 Maverick Theater 110 E. Walnut Ave., Fullerton $25 for 8 p.m. shows; $20 matinees For ages 13 and up :: mavericktheater.com |
Watching The Who’s Tommy at Segerstrom Center for the Arts a few weeks ago, I was stuck. Compulsively, I was locked into comparing it with the movie, the classic album and even The Who’s music in general. The long history of Tommy undoubtedly got in my way.
The Maverick Theater’s production of The Wedding Singer, reborn as a Broadway musical just a few years ago, but well after the popular Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore rom-com already became a fixture on cable TV, leaves you with hardly a moment of comparison. And it’s a pleasant surprise.
Obviously, the history of The Wedding Singer isn’t as long, but the memories of the film perhaps a lot more vivid. So, time spent smiling in my chair and not playing “spot the difference” means both the Broadway production and the Maverick took enough care to make it work on its own and it might be the key to this little musical’s charming success.
The Wedding Singer is another modern winking, ironic take on the musical as sort of musical self-parody. The story is a comedy after all. The differences between the film and stage versions, aside from the musical numbers, are slight but just enough to allow some breathing room for cast and audience.
If you don’t know, the story goes that Robbie’s band was once a hot club act, but now plays wedding receptions and it’s during one he meets waitress Julia. When Robbie’s fiancée leaves him at the altar, Julia helps to ease the pain and in fact, the two realize they’re more than friends while doing her wedding registry. But Julia’s imminent wedding and philandering jerk of a fiancé stand in their way.
Though the leads have chemistry and the cast overall is sturdy – especially in their musical roles – it’s often true in romantic comedy that the quirky supporting characters have to stand out strong and here Katy Harvey’s Holly and Marcus S. Daniel’s George are the highlights. But it’s also a musical, and the strength of the funnier songs like “Today You Are a Man,” “Single” and even “Saturday Night in the City” aid in giving the production its own identity as a comedy. Meanwhile, clever guerilla-like staging add to the rough-edged spoof.
The production eventually works into a new and very funny finale and allows you to wonder if it has improved on the original. OK, perhaps only in the final scene, but when a production based on a movie doesn’t have to rely on its history to generate plenty of laughs, that is something to sing about.
