Wedding Singer to Launch National Tour in Sept. '07

By: Jun. 08, 2006
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The Wedding Singer, the new hit musical based on the popular 1998 New Line Cinema film, will launch its 2007 road tour at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis on September 7, 2007.

The show is nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Musical Score, and Best Choreography

The Road Company, an independent theatrical booking agency that distributes musicals, plays and attractions nationally and internationally, will exclusively handle The Wedding Singer road tour, according to co-founder Stephen Lindsay. The Road Company also handles tours for Wicked, The Color Purple, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Doubt and Altar Boyz.

In addition, Wedding Singer fans will have the chance to download a free track of the musical's anthem, "It's Your Wedding Day" via the iTunes Discovery Download, Apple's new music discovery promotion. This marks the first time in iTunes history a Broadway show has been selected for the Discovery Download program. From June 6 through June 12, iTunes will feature "It's Your Wedding Day" on its home page and the soundtrack genre page. The free download will be available until 12 a.m. Tuesday, June 13 and will be on the main page as a link in the "Free Downloads." Subscribers to Rhapsody, on the other hand, can access an exclusive version of the album featuring an exclusive bonus track called "Awesome."

On June 6, the original cast recording of The Wedding Singer, by Masterworks Broadway, became available on CD in stores nationwide. The recording, which represents the first CD from this new label, was produced by David Leonard, David Lai and Matthew Sklar. The recording, like the show, features Stephen Lynch as Robbie Hart and Laura Benanti as Julia, along with Richard Blake, Kevin Cahoon, Felicia Finley, Rita Gardner, Matthew Saldivar and Amy Spanger.

This week, too, the "Today" show kicked off its popular wedding series with a live cast performance of the show-stopping opening number "It's Your Wedding Day".

A significant agreement was reached whereby the stock and amateur rights to The Wedding Singer will be represented by Music Theatre International (MTI). MTI will also work with the producers to promote and market the show to its extensive database of customers, including school groups, community theatres, performing arts centers, regional theatres and individuals throughout the U.S. and internationally. MTI is a leading dramatic licensing agency and has represented stock and amateur rights for such musicals as Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, Fiddler on The Roof, and The Producers.

Show producers also announced that negotiations and discussions with production companies in Japan, Korea, Germany and the UK are underway.

Directed by John Rando and choreographed by Rob Ashford, The Wedding Singer features original music by Matthew Sklar, book by Chad Beguelin & Tim Herlihy and lyrics by Beguelin.

"In this original musical, rock-star wannabe Robbie Hart is New Jersey's favorite wedding singer. He's the life of the party, the ultimate master of ceremonies, the unlikely hero of every party and a true believer in the power of love ­ until his own fiancée leaves him at the altar. Shot through the heart, Robbie becomes a newlywed's worst nightmare ­ a wedding singer bent on destroying other people's weddings. Enter Julia, a winsome waitress who wins his affection and helps Robbie pick up the pieces of his broken heart. The only hitch is that Julia is set to marry a Wall Street shark. Unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a lifetime, the girl of his dreams will be gone forever," state press notes on the musical, which is based on the hit film starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

The Wedding Singer opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on April 27th after beginning previews on March 30th.

The set design for The Wedding Singer is by Scott Pask; the costume design is by Gregory Gale; the lighting design is by Brian MacDevitt; the sound design is by Peter Hylenski; the hair design is by David Brian Brown; the make-up design is by Joe Dulude II. Orchestrations are by Irwin Fisch; the music director is James Sampliner.

The Wedding Singer is produced by Margo Lion, New Line Cinema, The Araca Group, Roy Furman, Doug Meyer/James D. Stern Productions, Rick Steiner/The Staton Bell Osher Mayerson Group, Jam Theatricals, in association with Jujamcyn Theaters 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.

The show plays Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm; Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm; and Sunday at 3pm at Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45 Street. Tickets, which are on sale now, are $56.25 – $111.25 and may be purchased by phoning Telecharge at 212 239 6200 or by visiting telecharge.com. For group sales, phone 212 302 7000 or 800 677 1164. For information about The Wedding Singer, visit www.theweddingsingerthemusical.com. The cast recording can be pre-ordered at www.sonymusicstores.com or www.amazon.com. 

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