The Wedding Singer

Set in the 1980’s Robbie Hart lives in his grandma’s basement in New Jersey and sings in a wedding band. His dreams of being a singer/songwriter are long gone and all he wishes for now is to find the right girl and settle down. He loses all hope when he is abandoned at the altar by his fiancee, Linda, going on to meet Julia, a waitress, who wins his heart but is about to get married to Glen, a Wall Street Broker. The lovely opening number ‘It’s Your Wedding Day’ was so joyous with everyone on stage really happily involved in various activities, just as you would expect there to be at a wedding celebration but on subsequent such occasions they are not so, particularly following his own disastrous ‘wedding’. Nicky Constable was top-notch as Robbie Hart giving his all to this full-on part. He had a great feeling for the role and coped admirably with the humour, the anger, the frustrations that befall Robbie and sang the various range of songs from rock to ballads superbly. He has so many songs to sing but most noteworthy for me, were ‘Casualty of Love’, where he really loses it and ruins a wedding reception, and the duet with Julia ‘Grow Old With You’. His fellow band members were Sammy and George. Chris Peck gave a good and funny portrayal of Sammy, the loveable but skittish soul-mate of Robbie, who managed to bring out the humour in the role perfectly and Chris Nusset really camped it up as a look-alike Boy George. Leanne Collins excelled as Julia. She is very natural on stage and both her acting and singing are very strong - she certainly brought a warmth to the character. Equally impressive was Lyndsey Ashley as Julia’s cousin, Holly. She sang and moved with great confidence especially when she turned into a real sassy rock chick in ‘Saturday Night in the City’. They were a super pairing. Istvan Koszegi was every inch the sleazy, full of himself, money mad Glen Gulia and the other not so well liked character, Linda (the ex-fiancee), was well played by Keyleigh Constable with the number ‘Let Me Come Home’ was extremely sexily and seductively sung and delivered. Julie Clifford was splendid as feisty Grandma Rosie - loved the rapping and what a mover! The small role of Angie was well played by Barbara Booth and two un-named characters, who played several different cameo roles, were exceedingly well portrayed by Derrick Hullet and Paul Holland. The ensemble consisted of thirty five cast members and it amazed me how, on such a small stage, they all manage to move and dance so effectively and at times so energetically whilst singing so well. The set was static flats artistically painted in a brightly coloured geometric design by Scenic Artists Andrew and Sabina Aucock and the many, many scenes were depicted by, as always, wonderful props - the very efficient stage crew were certainly kept very busy!! Lovely appropriate costumes, a good lighting plot and musical accompaniment all added to make this a very entertaining and fun-filled show. Congratulations to the Production Team, to the hard working cast and to everyone else involved - well done! 

Joyce Handbury

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