The Wedding Singer, New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham - review with pictures
It will come as no surprise that a musical entitled ‘The Wedding Singer’ is really one for the romantics among us.
A heart-warming ‘rom com’, The Wedding Singer has the added bonus of providing a deliciously retro journey to the eighties with all the outlandish style and colour the decade had to offer – not to mention a suitably pop-tastic score.
But The Wedding Singer is a little bit like getting a cupcake. It is exciting to see, looks great and is incredibly sweet – but just a teeny bit sickly.
Maybe I simply lack a romantic soul because this production is a real tonic peppering the feelgood factor over its audience.
Based on the popular Adam Sandler film, Robbie Hart is The Wedding Singer who hits the depths of despair when his own love life takes a terrible turn. He is helped out of the doldrums by friend Julia Sullivan but that inevitably leads to further complications and frustration.
Jon Robyns portrays a very endearing Hart and ticks all the boxes when it comes to singing, dancing, injecting humour and giving a convincing performance as the disillusioned and heartbroken singer.
There is great chemistry between Robyns and Cassie Compton, who plays Julia, and you feel a real spark between the characters as their friendship develops.
Playing Julia’s untrustworthy boyfriend Glen Gulia is former X Factor star Ray Quinn. The fresh faced young Scouser we knew and loved was quickly forgotten as Wall Street wolf Quinn oozed sleaze and arrogance in his bad guy role.
Another famous face, Ruth Madoc, plays Hart’s grandmother Rosie. Predictably she does get a lot of the laughs although her rap number Move That Thang was a little cringeworthy and made Honey G look like a credible artist.
Also worth a mention are Tara Verloop as Julia’s pal Holly and band members Ashley Emerson as bassist Sammy and Samuel Holmes as keyboard player George. The Holly and Sammy story line brings an added ‘ahhh’ factor – the number Right in Front of Your Eyes being a highlight.
The eighties unashamedly dominate this show from the costumes, to the ‘mobile’ phones to the Wall Street avarice to appearances from ‘Billy Idol’, ‘Cyndi Lauper’ and ‘Ronald Reagan’.
It is entertaining to spot the more subtle references to the eighties from song lyrics such as ‘I am a material girl’ and ‘it’s a slow day for a white wedding’ to imitation of the Thriller dance moves.
A lively score includes a couple of real showtime numbers such as Saturday Night in the City and All About the Green. The slushy moments are met with such numbers by Julia and Robbie as Grow Old with You while there was plenty of comedy in such songs as Somebody Kill Me, A Note From Grandma and Casualty of Love.
A must-see for romantics and a feelgood factor guaranteed.
Runs at the New Alexandra Theatre until Saturday.
