The Wedding Singer

This lively, humorous, fast-moving production made the most of an enthusiastic and talented cast and left a sizeable Thursday night audience thoroughly impressed. Based on the 1998 film of the same name, 'The Wedding Singer' is set in the 1980s - that most glamorous of decades - and the era's popular music influences the score enormously. Similarly, peppered throughout the show were references to song lyrics and celebrities of the 1980s which added an appealing extra touch to proceedings: coupled with the spot-on costumes - shoulder pads, ra-ra skirts and skinny ties aplenty! - the show really made the most of its retro chic and was brought to life marvellously by a talented cast. Musically, the show excelled at '80s pastiche; every song brought with it a stylistic flavour of the era with with the added bonus of some unexpectedly witty lyrics thrown in for good measure.

Robbie Hart, the wedding singer with a heart of gold and romantic streak a mile wide, was played by Josh Hindle who made light work of the light-hearted musical score and made for a convincing hero. Jade Brett also impressed as the girl of Robbie's dreams; particularly strong in the vocals department and also bringing a comically sympathetic air to the role which made for a fully rounded characterisation. Robbie's band mates Sammy and George really came to life as played by David Smith and Tim Mason, two very talented Hippodrome stalwarts who it's great to be seeing more and more of on stage as the years go by. David's earthily macho Sammy and Tim as the outrageous George really complemented each other superbly and provided much humour between them. Cathryn Osborne brought a little spark of '80s chutzpah to the stage on her every appearance as Holly Sullivan and was again, a sympathetic and likeable character the audience could really warm to. Villain of the piece, Glen Guglia - surely the evil love-child of Gordon Gekko and Alexis Colby?! - was essayed with oily panache by Sam Crabtree, another performer whose stage presence grows more commanding with every appearance. Rosemary Osborne brought a humorously languid hauteur to the role of Julia's mother, Angie and was as adept at turning a cameo into a miniature marvel as we have come to expect.

Two smaller roles which impressed out of all proportion to their stage time came with Linda (who jilts Robbie at the altar) and Robbie's grandmother, Rosie. Laura Schofield gave the standout performance of the evening for me as Linda, providing the two musical highlights of the show, demonstrating both an innate comic timing and also, the comic possibilities of the character. Following close behind was Angela Schofield as Rosie, the hilariously feisty grandmother who again impressed enormously. It seems pretty obvious that the Schofields are genetically predisposed to have funny bones and this talented pair stole every scene they appeared in and were given the most interesting and entertaining songs to sing too. I was surprised by the cleverness of some of the songs which seemed to have a more wittily thoughtful slant than I had expected, particularly Linda and Rosie's offerings. A point I have mentioned before is the fact that often, a director's decision at shaping the overall feel of a production often goes overlooked: in this case, I can't help but feel that Steve Grist played a considerable part in spinning the material afforded to him by the script and score into so much more than than the sum of its parts.

I loved the way the score borrowed from the sounds of the era - a spot of soft rock here, a burst of 80's electronica there - without being a 'jukebox musical'. Lisa Manley and her orchestra were very much part of the action on stage, playing the part of the in-house wedding band, which really worked. Leading her exceptional band of musicians with her customary panache, Lisa tirelessly kept the music flowing all night, scarcely managing to sit down for longer than a few seconds at a time!

Scenery, staging and the technical aspects of the stage business throughout the show were first rate, with choreography in the safe hands of Vicky Royle who impressed with a number of lively production numbers. Costumes were of a particularly high standard and really did suggest the high gloss - if ever so slightly naff! - 1980s without veering over into an overdone send-up, with hairstyles really hitting the bullseye too: those mullets and curly perms providing a jolt which, rather like Marty McFly's DeLorean, had the effect of taking the audience right back in time. The build up to the show's happy ending (just in case you were in any doubt - and I don't think I'm spoiling things for anyone yet to see the show - boy gets girl at the end!) was especially good, with a gang of celebrity lookalikes (Ronald Reagan, Mr T and Imelda Marcos among them) providing an interesting roll call of the icons of the age and also, much humour. The show has a lot going for it - it is straightforward, simple, honest, relatively wholesome and doesn't outstay its welcome, unlike many recent musicals! - and given the super treatment it was afforded here, stood out as something different.

Something of a thorny issue for me however was the inconsistency as far as the sound was concerned. As already mentioned, I found the lyrics to the songs much wittier and cleverer than I had anticipated and it would have been preferable to have heard all of them rather than just most of them: all too often, I found that I missed words - or sometimes whole verses - due to some problems with the sound. Was it the sound system? Or enunciation on the part of certain performers? The balance between singers and the orchestra occasionally being out of kilter...? I'm not sure. Suffice to say that I did miss passages which, going off the strength of the passages I did hear, would have been amusing and worthy of a chuckle or two. There was an uneven, 'hit and miss' nature as regards the audibility of the lyrical content throughout the evening: I missed much of the opening numbers in both Acts for example, whereas 'A Note From Linda' and 'Single' (amongst others) came over loud and clear. While I'm in gripe mode, I did think that the staging for 'All About the Green' was perhaps a little over-literal ('green' was very much the order of the day with costumes and lighting...) but that's probably just nit-picking on my part!

Overall however, this was a wonderful 'feel good' show which bounced along at a cracking pace, made the most of the stellar talents available at the Hippodrome and also, made the most of the source material in a way which I imagine would be hard to beat. I have to admit approaching the show with a slightly cynical eye, expecting yet another 'flavour of the month', nine days wonder of a show: instead, I was more than pleasantly surprised by the evening's entertainment and assured once again of the Hippodrome's high standards. My thanks go to all involved for a reliably warm welcome and another great evening at the theatre.

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