The Wedding Singer Tour (4/16) review!

[Parks]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 1:34am

Alright. It's been a while since I saw this show on Broadway. I went through my obsessed phase for about 5 or 6 months back in 2006...

The show opened at Dallas Summer Musicals last night. It's one of the non-equity shows this year... and after "Wonderful Town" last season, I've felt a little jaded toward non-equity shows.

Thank God, Wedding Singer was much more enjoyable than Wonderful Town.

The curtain looks tiny in the theater! There is so much flyspace, but.. what can you do?

The show began, and I was excited because there was a lot of energy on that stage! I could see it! The ensemble looked so much smaller that the Broadway show. The set, of course, was scaled down a lot from the Broadway show. Everything was great except for the dance break with the bride and the groom. They just looked kind of silly at first... not a whole lot of energy from them. Atleast they did the bride flipping over the groom's arm well!

The first thing that really stuck out to me were WIGS. AWFUL! Can we please start a fundraiser to give this show better wigs?? Almost ALL of them looked fake and it bothered me throughout the whole show. I know, it's very snobby of me to says such a thing... but I've seen better wigs in high school shows.

The costumes were fine. Some looked a little cheap (waitresses dresses; Linda's dress was a LITE version of the dress Felicia Finley wore).

For a non-equity tour, it was not that bad! I was pleased with the sets for the most part! Sure, it was pretty scaled back, but they made it work!

On to the performances:

Robbie--He started off alright... not great. He was good. He got through the show, but I definitely miss Stephen Lynch. Stephen's Robbie made decisions on stage that the audience could see, which I missed from this guy. Maybe it's that I was sitting 20 rows back this time and it is in a huge theater. He had a nice voice. He had some funny moments, but he missed a lot of laughs he could have gotten. Not bad though!

Julia--She had a wonderful voice! Very nice to listen to! Even though the wigs in the show were not great, I almost wish she had had one. Her hair just looked kind of flat. In a 3,000 seat theater, she needs something to accentuate her a little more. With almost every other character on stage wearing wigs with BIG hair, it just kind of looked odd. She and Robbie didn't really have a connection ...not that I could see anyway. She played Julia almost a little too naive and childish. She jumped up and down a few times, and I get what she was trying to do... but it looked a little odd. Her "Someday" was good! I wish she would own the stage a little more. I loved the way Laura Benanti just strutted around the stage like the owned the place. This actress seemed to play it a little unsure--and made very quick movements (to get into the picture with the bride and the groom, the cake). I wish she would milk everything a little more!

Holly--I was nervous for Holly. She is my favorite part in the show. Well, this girl can sing!! She lost a few laughs, but overall was wonderful. She gave a solid performance and I hope she goes on to do more shows. She's very talented! Probably had the best stage presence in the show. "Right In Front Of Your Eyes" sounds like it was lowered just a little bit, which is always a little upsetting--but she made me forget it was lowered at all. She sang the song wonderfully! (Amy Spanger has compeeetttiiiition!) Oh, they took out the ladder during "Right In Front Of Your Eyes". Why? It's simple and adds so much more depth to the set and, without it, stage left looks so empty! I'm upset they took it out. It would give Holly a lot more to do on stage and the set would look better. Even without the ladder, this Holly did a great job with the number!

Rose--She has a great voice for the stage!... sadly, she just went through motions. However, her "A Note From Grandma" did get one of the biggest applause of the night!

Linda--Ah! Girl has an AMAZING voice! She has a HUGE voice. The way she played Linda was very different from Felicia's take. She played Linda... stupider (more stupid? eh, it's late. Who cares). It works! She was my friend's favorite in the show. Very talented girl!

The show overall was enjoyable. I'm very nitpicky about a lot of things (as you could tell). I was a little hard on some people, and my opinion is not completely fair. I am definitely biased. Perhaps I just caught certain cast members on an off night.

I'm sorry--I did not like "If I Told You" tonight. The scene was pretty flat. The director really needs to look at that scene and make some notes! There was very little emotion in that scene tonight. Such a beautiful song like that should not just go to waste.

Out of 10 stars, I would give this production 6 1/2 stars.

PS--I just now realized what was missing from the show--"Pop!" Wow, I cannot believe it took me THIS long to realize they took it out. That song is great! Anyone know why they cut it?? I guess it's not crucial to like the story or anything, but it's such a fun number.

Updated On: 4/17/08 at 01:34 AM

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 1:37am

I saw this crap with Equity actors. I can't imagine sitting through non-equity productions of this drivel.

[Parks]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 1:41am

It's not a great show, but it's fun!

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 1:43am

Non-equity doesn't equal bad. In just usually means much lower budget.

[Parks]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 2:11am

I know! That's why I prefaced that comment with my reason for having that belief (Wonderful Town).

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 8:22am

Thank you for sharing.

I miss this show and the fun smiles it gave everyone It makes you forget the world and go back to the 80s and believe in love again... if you let it.

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 8:42am

I was told by the cast that the creators decided to "streamline" the story in the musical and concentrate a little more on the Robbie/Julia romance and therefore switched things around so that Glan had already proposed, but wouldn't set a date for many years. This nescesitated the removal of "Pop." I personally think the show has a better flow and works better that way (although I MISS the line "And I'm like her fairy godmother. But slutty.")

I loved this show on tour and thought that Merrick was light years better than Stephen Lynch, but agree the Julia was a bit weak.

[broadwayfan7]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 9:23am

I saw the tour last month and really enjoyed it! Thanks for your review!

[Parks]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 9:30am

Like I said, perhaps I just caught Merrick on an off night. From what I saw of him on YouTube, he looked very good.

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 2:35pm

I loved this show on Broadway.

Glad to see the tour is at least holding up..and delivering some of the laughs.

The music is a joy to listen to anytime, anyplace.

I'm happy you got to see the show again, as it's coming nowhere near here!

[MrBundles]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 3:17pm

Thanks for the review! I think I'll catch this in Arizona.

[NY_Broadway2]

Posted: 4/17/08 at 6:21pm

I agree with Parks. I think this show was a lot of fun! I mean you know going into it you are there to be entertained. I felt the sets were a little lacking but it is non-equity so what do you expect. I thought the actors did a good job.

[Parks]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 9:48am

Oh, I talked to the merchandise people from the show on Saturday and they said the tour is only going on for 7 more weeks and then they are doing a stint in Atlantic City this summer--a 90 minute show...where Julia doesn't even sing.

...why?

[NY_Broadway2]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 12:53pm

Why would they do something like this? That doesn't even make any sense. If anybody has any answers to this, I would like to know why as well. It's not like the girl who plays Julia can't sing.

[Parks]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 3:23pm

OK, so according to a person with the show, I was given inaccurate information about Julia not singing (that or I misunderstood what they said--perhaps she just doesn't sing very much). I will let you know what he tells me.

A few things I forgot to mention from having watched parts of the show again:
--Wigs--they aren't all awful. The 2 that really stick out to me are the bride's wig (in It's Your Wedding Day) and Holly's wig. Just those 2, really. The rest look decent.
--The bride and the groom's dance break looked much better the 2 other times I watched it. The groom looks like he's really trying. The bride's dancing still looks a little flat. It's their first thing they do--the hands moving fast by their hands. His are moving faster and with more energy than hers, if you know what I'm talking about.

Updated On: 4/22/08 at 03:23 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 4/22/08 at 3:38pm

How was Justin Jutras? He's a quasi-friend of mine...

[MrBundles]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 9:12pm

I spend this weekend in Phoenix and I was able to see the show Saturday night (5/24) at ASU. I have to say that it was somewhat better than I expected. Of course, it will never compare to how much I enjoyed it when I saw the premiere in Seattle, but it was still very enjoyable.

PROs:

-The 4 mirror balls that set the atmosphere of the gammage before the show started....felt like it was going to be a BIG PARTY!

-The ensemble

-Andrea Andert (Linda): As Parks said, very different take than Felicia, but still pretty awesome. A Highlight was definitely during "Let Me Come Home" when she rolls back (after the first role), instead of a complete role, she flipped over and hit Merritt's face with her but, which was funny because it startled him a bit.

-Penny Larsen (Grandma): hilarious

-The $10.00 souvenir program and window card combo...haha

CONs:

-I missed the money blinds and the Rubik's cube squares on the stage

-The absence of "Pop," one of my favorite songs from the show

-The lack of diction throughout the entire show

-Julia's hair...definitely boring and flat

On a side note...in the souvenir program Merritt wears a mullet wig, but in the show it was very obvious that he had is own very short hair. This also happened when I saw the show in seattle and Steven wore a similar wig, but on Broadway the wig had disappeared.

The show started off a bit slow for me, but it definitely picked up speed, especiall with Andrea's command of the stage.


Strongest Numbers: Casualty of Love, Saturday Night in the City, All About the Green, Let Me Come Home

Weakest: It's Your Wedding Day (not loud enough, not enough diction from Merritt, lacking energy)

All in all, it still impressed me, especially with what I was expecting...not sure how enjoyable it'll be with all the soon to be cuts though!