The Wedding Singer

Red-lit silk festoons backed the open stage with a break up gobo scattering light across the floor between scaffolding towers to left and right, above which sat the band perfectly placed to be in intimate association with the players beneath them.  As the tabs were drawn up the full stage was revealed showing a club’s simple raised stage with proscenium.  This was ingeniously designed to have a hinged centre section that lifted easily and quickly to double as a bed/bedroom.  Together with two moveable screens this basic construction gave sufficient permutations for a variety of settings that needed only the addition of a couple of wheel-on trucks - desk, bar, dumpster, to whisk us from one location to another.  Time consuming tab-drop scene changes are a thing of the past and the order of the day is now to allow the action to flow uninterrupted, with the performers themselves bringing on various tables, chairs and bar stools, etc. to add the details necessary. This clever Designer and his build-team have created an economically practical configuration to maximise space and resources.

Your enviable lighting rig was given a full airing as a lavish array of colours and effects played its part in the spectacle.  Wisps of haze picked up the lights to give atmosphere and the skilled operation of the follow spots ensured that soloists stood out against more subdued backgrounds.  Seeing the stage clearly is taken for granted by most so it is pleasing to acknowledge the careful planning evident in the lighting plot and its transitions of colour that reinforced the mood, e.g. the dramatic red glow of the fight scene, or the soft blues of the poignant “Romeo and Juliet balcony” moment.  The colours were chosen with consideration for the outfits, and the use of a glitter ball reflected the party spirit ending of the Bar Mitzvah scene as did the flashing disco lights in the exuberant club scene finale of Act One.

With almost every cast member mic’d there was no difficulty hearing the dialogue, and the quality of the sound was clear.  It was unfortunate that Julia’s mic broke up a little at one point and I wondered if putting her wedding veil on had adjusted the wiring somewhat.  She carried on singing unfazed and the sound came back, so maybe not.  The American accents were maintained and as I’m not an expert I can’t comment on how accurately they were placed in New Jersey!  The singing with an accent was not always as distinct and I found it difficult to make out some of the words of songs unfamiliar to me, particularly so in the belt verse of Linda’s soliloquy on the bed.  Does this matter when the emotion comes across? …which it did!  It is something less noticeable during big company numbers in which the spectacle of colourful costumes and vibrant movement captures the eye more than the ear.  HTC has a huge number of talented singers on which to draw and competition for the leading roles must be fierce, so it is satisfying to see new members emerging and with strong vocals from all the principals plus solid support from a compelling Ensemble the result was a powerfully impressive show - as you will know from the reaction you received.  The Band made a tuneful septet and the view they had from above the stage meant the MD was able to react promptly to changes beneath allowing the vamp bars between scenes to modulate smoothly into the next song.  They were able to produce a surprisingly full sound for so small a group and I’m sure this is down to the inclusion of the wind instruments.  I was so glad that the audience gave the play-out its own well-earned round of applause in appreciation of the musicians' indispensable contribution.  

The props team had a painstaking time finding or making set dressings and hand props for such a busy show.  So many weddings! …each having to look slightly different from the others, plus a staff room and office, bedrooms and department store - bottles, glasses, bedding and soft toys, carrier bags complete with logo, merchandise, manila files, high-top drinks tables, walking sticks and zimmer frames, a ‘brick’ of a mobile phone (splendid), and Chianti bottle lamps - so evocative of the era… in fact, too many to itemise.  One mention must be made for whoever insisted that the coffee pot held steaming hot coffee - excellent!  It is an onerous task amassing precisely the right props, many of which are seen only fleetingly, and having them instantly to hand at just the right moment, but without this attention to detail a show loses much of the impact that gives it that professional touch.  I have yet to see an HTC production that doesn’t demonstrate this resolve, which is one of the reasons why your shows exhibit such high quality.

Hair and make up were, for the most part, relatively natural with barely a glimpse of mullets or the ‘big hair' referred to in the programme, the artistes’ own hair styled appropriately where and if possible.  George’s appearance was a notable exception and he stood out in his glorious technicolour make-up and the beribboned plaits of his hairpiece.  Many of the girls had exaggerated pink cheekbones and one had grown sideburns for the occasion(!), while Rosie ignored fashion and stuck with the perm she’d had since the ‘50s.  The collection of Impersonators had all been given the wigs and make up required to resemble their characters with great success.

Costumes - oh boy!  What a labour of love that must have been.  You ladies of the Wardrobe left us in awe of your breathtaking collections that came one after the other with barely time to register the skill that had gone into finding/creating so many outfits in coordinated colours for a full company of mixed sizes and the required diverse styles - bridal, uniform, OAPs, office, casual, ethnic, ecclesiastical, and exercise.  The mind boggles at the space needed to store them all, let alone the bustle backstage when everyone is changing at the same time for the next scene.  The small malfunctions of a dropped hemline and braces bursting off could not diminish my respect for the overall eye-popping spectacle of each ensemble.  Your understanding of colour scheming and the ability to juxtapose styles within each theme gave variety and interest and allowed each performer, where suitable, to be an individual character or alternatively to merge into a selfsame chorus as in Glen’s Office, the uniform black and white shirts and ties providing an effective contrast to the vibrancy elsewhere.  Since the programme mentions the era’s shoulder pads we could have seen a few more of the ridiculous-width Dallas/Dynasty shoulders here and there, but this omission is balanced by the delightfully tongue-in-cheek over-padding of Large Lady.  It was good to see the female wedding guests in hats and where on earth you found George’s shoes is beyond me!  Full marks for a triumphant assemblage of costumes that looked right for the period, seemed comfortable and moved well, and provided a panoply to delight the eye.

I can’t begin to imagine the hours that went into drilling this disparate cast of, let’s face it, amateurs in so many energetic company numbers.  Not many, I would guess, have had formal dance training and yet you managed to achieve a Gestalt competency that was quite alluring.  It was not noticeably easy choreography and the slick tempo driving many of the songs meant a lot to learn - words and steps, position and movement, nor was it overtly repetitive number to number so I applaud the choreographers and the cast for an impressive performance.  I noticed particularly the excellent freezes - a feature that was repeated in a few of the songs.  It’s so tempting to move a muscle to make yourself look less like a gargoyle if you’ve been caught out, or to take your eye line around to see others and I remarked that each time everyone stopped dead without a twitch.  Be assured that if you do move someone will see you and the effect will be ruined!  Another feature that was used to good effect was head gestures, snappy and precise these accents in movement give highlights of interest.   The imagination behind the physicality and body language used in Casualty of Love was both funny and admirable and the degeneration into a fight at the end was very cleverly staged to provide an inevitable and comical close to the scene.  Glen’s knockout punch of Robbie was delivered with conviction but I felt it might have happened further upstage, not only for the angle that would have given but also because we couldn’t see Robbie once he was on the floor so close to the front row.

Overseeing this incredible team of creatives, and the final decision maker in the whole process, the director has a mammoth responsibility so, with the added worry that Covid might strike at any moment, you must be relieved it’s all over now.   Rest on your laurels for a short while - for there are laurels (and it will be only a short time before you’re on to the next.)  I’m impressed by your generous decision to give leads to very capable newcomers but also by the apparent generosity of your regular members who seem so willing to share and support one another by taking turns to be in the limelight.  Many of them are headline talents but obviously can’t always be top of the bill.  So while missing some of the stalwarts of past shows I welcome this new wave of keen performers.  It is keeping you as a society alive and makes me proud to be your rep.  The stage and its intricacies was used to advantage - the fold-out bed and the crafty lighting of Rosie as she appeared over the top of the headboard; the well devised dumpster that allowed Robbie to climb out comfortably; the detail evident in the Department Store; and the swift transition to the Las Vegas wedding chapel; all executed, and indeed many more, with crisp efficiency by the team - but I think the airline desk came on a tad early.  I was especially thrilled with the trouble you had taken to give the cast back stories to play in many of the scenes so that ‘extras’ on stage weren’t just standing around.  It takes time to set up but is so rewarding - the person who always sits out at a reception, the lost purse, the questions from dad about what the money has been spent on.  These mini dramas add so much to the overall picture.  I missed a moment in The Bar; must have been looking at the band or the lighting but away from the bar itself, when something untoward happened.  Something to do with a bottle I think but whatever, it threw the cast briefly and although the main protagonists quickly regained their composure it was sadly noticeable that the solo drinker down left corpsed significantly and, dropping character, identified with the audience in front of him to maintain it for some time.  Of course mishaps occur on stage now and then, and experienced professionals would know how to handle it.  Is it something we need to mention at rehearsals - what to do if…?  In contrast to this one of the ‘waitresses’ picked up a fallen bracelet inconspicuously and put it safely out of harm’s way.  Your casting was impeccable with each performer inhabiting the character realistically and you fully exploited at every opportunity the humour written into the lines, giving the audience so much to laugh at.  The marshalling of the company scenes was faultless with entrances and exits prompt, and the groupings were considered so that the dancers never looked cramped.

This was another first class, high quality show from HTC in which every participant, on stage, backstage or front of house, played an exceptional part in creating a memorable production. 

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