'The Wedding Singer' To Croon At Broward Center

IT'S TIME TO PARTY '80'S STYLE AS  

THE WEDDING SINGER 

OPENS THE 2007-2008 THEATRICAL SEASON PRESENTED BY

STANFORD BROADWAY ACROSS AMERICA – FT. LAUDERDALE

AND FLORIDA THEATRICAL ASSOCIATION

AT BROWARD CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

OCTOBER 3 – 14, 2007 

The Tony ® nominated Broadway musical comedy THE WEDDING SINGER will open the 2007-2008 Stanford Broadway Across America – Ft. Lauderdale season at Broward Center for the Performing Arts October 3 – 14, 2007. THE WEDDING SINGER, called "One Big Party! A good-natured, high-energy musical" by Newsday, is based upon the 1998 hit film that starred Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore that grossed over $120 million worldwide.

THE WEDDING SINDER appears at Broward Center for the Performing Arts October 3 – 14 with performances Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, Sunday evenings at 7:30pm and matinees Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm with additional performances Wednesday October 3 at 2pm, and Tuesday, October 9 at 8pm.

Tickets for the Fort Lauderdale engagement of THE WEDDING SINDER range from $21.00 - $65.00 not including applicable handling or service charges. Purchase tickets only from the following authorized ticket sellers at Broadway Across America – Ft. Lauderdale, Broward Center AutoNation Box Office or Ticketmaster. Tickets can be purchased in person at Broward Center's Auto Nation Box Office or by phone and internet at 954-462-0222 or www.browardcenter.org . Tickets are also available though Ticketmaster by phones at 954-523-3309 in Broward, 305-358-5885 in Dade, and 561-966-3309 in Palm Beach or at www.ticketmaster.com and in person at Ticketmaster outlets. Orders for groups of 20 or more may be placed by calling the Broward Center at 954-462-0222 or Broadway Across America at 1-800-6GROUPS (647-6877).

In their continuing effort to serve theatre patrons, Broadway Across America  offers the following options to enhance the overall theatrical experience. A Sign Interpreted Performance is provided Friday, October 12 at 8pm. An Open Captioned* and Audio Described** performance is provided October 13 at 2pm. These enhancements are Sponsored by Miracle Ear of South Florida and Theatre Development Fund in partnership with Broward Center for the Performing Arts and Stanford Broadway Across America – Ft. Lauderdale. 

In THE WEDDING SINDER, it's the '80's, you know, junk bonds, MTV, "Dynasty," Duran Duran, leg warmers. Robbie Hart lives in his grandmother's basement in New Jersey and sings in a wedding band. His dreams of being a singer/songwriter are long gone, replaced now by a burning desire to find the right girl and settle down. When his fiancée leaves him standing at the altar, he becomes a wedding planner's worst nightmare, taking out his bitterness on stage until his eye and heart turn to a new friend, Julia, but she's engaged to a wealthy Wall Street broker. 

"Awesome! Audiences haven't had this much fun since 'Mamma Mia' says Jess Cagle, WCBS TV/People Magazine. And much of that fun comes from the tuneful and funny original score by two of Broadway's freshest young talents, composer Matthew Sklar and lyricist Chad Beguelin. Plus, THE WEDDING SINGER has a witty and romantic book by Chad Beguelin and the screenwriter of the hit movie, former "Saturday Night Live" head writer, Tim Herlihy.

Paul Stancato directs the tour based on the original Broadway direction by John Rando. The show's Broadway run ended in December 2006 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. For the new tour, Chris Bailey provides choreography, which is based on Rob Ashford's Broadway work.

The cast features Merritt David Janes as Robbie Hart with Erin Elizabeth Coors as Julia Sullivan, the roles created on Broadway by, respectively, Stephen Lynch and Laura Benanti. Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore played those roles in the film of the same name.

Janes and Coors will be joined onstage by Justin Jutras (Sammy), Penny Larsen (Rosie),John Jacob Lee (George),Sarah Peak(Holly),Mark Raumaker (Glen Guglia)and Nikka Wahl (Linda). The ensemble will comprise Joel Abels, Andrea Andert, Carrie Cimma, Kevin Faraci, Zach Frank, Susan Leilani Gearou, Kimberly Marable, Ciaran McCarthy, Rebecca Lynn Miller, Lindsay Moore, Matthew Ragas, Rebecca Riker, Jason Samuel, Marco Antonio Santiago and Neil Totton.

The creative team includes John Mezzio (musical supervisor/coordinator/conductor), Scott Pask (scenic designer), Brian MacDevitt (lighting designer), Gregory Gale (costume designer) and Lucas J. Corrubia, Jr. (sound designer).

THE WEDDING SINGER was nominated for Five Tony Awards including Best Musical, nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Musical, nominated for three Drama League Awards including Distinguished Production of a Musical, and nominated for four Broadway.com Audience Awards including Favorite New Broadway Musical.

Tim Herlihy wrote the screenplay for the film THE WEDDING SINGER and also made a cameo appearance in the film as a bartender. He also penned the screenplays for "Mr. Deeds," "Little Nicky," "Big Daddy," "The Waterboy," "Happy Gilmore," and "Billy Madison." He was executive producer for the Jack Nicholson/Adam Sandler film, "Anger Management" and served in the same capacity for the hit comedy, "The Longest Yard."

Chad Beguelin is a recipient of The Edward Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyric Writing, the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, and was selected as one of Variety's "50 Creatives to Watch." Chad wrote the book and lyrics for The Rhythm Club (Helen Hayes Nomination), Wicked City, and is currently writing the book for Disney's stage version of Aladdin. He completed a yearlong screenwriting deal with Walt Disney Pictures and has a project in development at Paramount Studios. He is currently also writing the stage musical Get Shorty for MGM. 

Matthew Sklar is also currently writing the musical adaptation of Get Shorty. Other original works include The Rhythm Club, Wicked City and several projects for Disney, which are currently running in destinations worldwide. He has worked extensively as a pianist and conductor for many Broadway musicals including Nine, Les Miserables, Titanic, Caroline or Change, Miss Saigon, and 42nd Street. Matthew is a recipient of the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theatre Award and the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award. 

THE WEDDING SINGER director John Rando is the Tony Award-winning director of Urinetown. Last year, he directed The Downtown Plays,the centerpiece of the inaugural Tribeca Theater Festival. Other Broadway credits are Neil Simon's The Dinner Party and Tom Selleck in A Thousand Clowns.

THE WEDDING SINGER choreographer Rob Ashford is the Tony Award-winning choreographer of Thoroughly Modern Millie. He has staged the dances for dozens of New York and London productions including the recent Kander and Ebb musical, 'Curtains' and the West End revival of 'Guys and Dolls' starring Ewan McGregor.

THE WEDDING SINGER set designer Scott Pask won the Tony-Award for his design of The Pillowman. His other Broadway credits are The Coast of Utopia, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, The Vertical Hour, Take Me Out, Urinetown, La Cage aux Folles, Sweet Charity, Little Shop of Horrors, Nine,and Amour.

The Wall Street Journal's theatre critic Terry Teachout called THE WEDDING SINGER "A huge hit! An ingenious and amusing musical with a blue-chip pedigree. Crammed full of '80s pop-culture references, most of which are very funny. The show delivers what it promises, and if you long to laugh yourself silly, it'll do the trick." 

*Open captioning is a text display located to the side of the stage that scrolls the words in synchronization with the performance. It assists people with varying degrees of hearing loss, as well as hearing audience members who might not catch every word during a show. **Audio Description brings the theatrical experience to those who are blind or have low vision. A trained describer speaks between the dialogue and delivers a narration of the visual elements including lights, costumes, actions and scenery of a performance.

 

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