The Wedding Singer

There is no stopping Felling Stage Society, and I love their determination and passion for amateur theatre and bringing productions to their audiences. Having lost their performance venue, they have had to think outside the box and look for alternative venue spaces to enable them to continue with their passion and hobby, so a massive thank you to Thomas Wilson Club who offered their venue to enable Felling Stage Society to showcase their production of the rom-com musical “The Wedding Singer”.

The Wedding Singer is a musical based on the 1998 American romantic comedy film written by Tim Herlihy; the film was later adapted into a stage musical debuting on Broadway in 2006. The musical focuses on the character Robbie Hart who 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 singers’ worst nightmare, taking out his bitterness on stage until he meets Julia Sullivan, but the dilemma is that Julia is engaged to Glen Guglia a wealthy Wall Street shark, and unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a decade, the girl of his dreams will be gone forever.

Who better than Bea Atkinson to hold the reins as Director, no stranger to directing shows with her passion and drive, we knew that with Bea at the helm we were in for a great treat. Supported by Stephen Stokoe as Co- Director they certainly knew how to get the best out of the cast and use the space to create a great atmosphere and produce a great production, and I must say that the décor in the club certainly gave it the 80’s feel.

Music was in the capable hands of their Musical Director Jonny Winter who with his band brought the score to life at a perfect balance never overshadowing the cast in their delivery. Sound was excellent as always by Duncan Baxter and lighting was provided by Paul Oliver who certainly knows how to create the atmosphere through his lighting plot. Well done to Alice Jackson, Shannon Charters and Ali Taylor who put the cast through their paces and created some excellent chorography to complement the production it was fast paced and well delivered for all the cast’s ability and finally to complete the production team was Dorothy Rae as prompt who fortunately wasn’t required on the night I attended as the cast were well prepared.

This show has a great good feel factor and the atmosphere from the audience certainly added to the mood as soon as we arrived. The principles were well cast, and their performances were uplifting, it is very difficult to portray a well know character from such a popular iconic film, but the cast were able to bring in their own interpretation of their characters which worked extremely well and very much enjoyed by all in the audience.

Playing the part of Robbie Hart was the talented Brian Jordon who shone in the leading role, he showed the funny side of Robbie but was also brought out the light and shade in his character when things were not going as well in his life, a great performance although I know how difficult the week had been for Brian having lost his voice the determination and professionalism shone through. I loved the chemistry between Robbie and Julia Sullivan played by Lynn Dos Santos, an absolute pleasure to see, Lynn had great vocal ability especially in "Come Out of the Dumpster" and “Someday” and great acting skills which complimented the partnership between her and Brian.

Playing the band members were Kevin Rhodes as Sammy again no stranger to the stage Kevin portrayed his character well with some lovely scenes with his ex-girlfriend Holly played by Alisar Jane Taylor who was excellent as his ex -girlfriend and friend to Julia, they showed  great chemistry with some very funny comedy moments, lovely delivery of their duet “Right in front of your eyes” which was well delivered, and I loved the matching t-shirts. George was played by Marty Hampton- Mathews and I could not believe how much he resembled Boy George, great character acting and well performed, again his musical number “George’s Prayer” was confidently delivered.

It was lovely to see Graeme Smith back on stage playing the role of the wealthy smooth talking Wall Street shark Glen Guglia, a very confident performance by Graeme, great stage presence and vocally strong as always. Graeme always shows his versatility with good stage presence and the ability to use his skills and talent to portray his character with confidence and ease, vocally I enjoyed his musical number “All About the Green” with the cast, well done Graeme I hope to see you back on stage soon.

Kim Robinson delivered the part of Robbie’s Grandma Rosie, her performance was fantastic delivering excellent timing, great comedy touches and her stage presence was incredible to the audience delight. Her performance delivered a trendy, hilarious, batty grandma, I loved the rapping and her delivery of the music number “A note from Grandma” was well delivered. Well done Kim on a great performance. Playing Robbie’s ex-girlfriend Linda was Emma Deborah Ward and what a performance from this Rock Chick, the scene when Linda returned to Robbie was well directed and the dance was exceptional, this woman can certainly dance, I have never seen such seduction, bending and gymnastics like it, what a performance- great stage presence and I loved her musical number “Let Me Come Home” which was confidently delivered. Well done also to Rita Watters who played the role of Julia’s mum, Angie a lovely cameo role which was confidently performed and well delivered.

There were a number of cast members in supporting roles in this production, and I loved how Felling Stage Society worked with True Colours Theatre to produce an all-inclusive production which worked very well and to their credit, creating the opportunity for all people of all abilities to showcase their talent. Well done to Alfi Whitlie, Darren Renforth, Diane Whitlie, Ellen McDonald, Ron Reavely, Sara Foggon and Spencer Whitlie.

Congratulation also to the dancing troupe who certainly enhanced the production, Ava Appleby, Amber Finley, Cameron Southhall, Charis Nicholson, Holly Dawson, Lucy Ellis, Logan Mellish, Olivia Dawson, Rosie McDonnell, Sophie Lee and Lyza Ternent.

Congratulation to everyone on a great production and for inviting me and the National President and his Wife Anne, we had a great evening, and we wish you all the very best for the future.

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