David Armstrong is right: "The death of the Musical is greatly exaggerated." The American musical is alive and well as witnessed by The Wedding Singer at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre. This remake into a musical of the Adam Sandler movie is an improvement in my book because it has more music and it has dancing. I'm a sucker for anything with singing and dancing in it.
Set in 1985, the play is filled with '80s jokes and allusions. One of my favorite dance scenes was the chorus using "Thriller" choreography.
The actors all have extensive Broadway experience and it shows. In fact, Rita Gardner who plays Rosie, Robbie's grandmother, is the original girl in the Fantastics. I first saw the Fantastics when I was in high school, and we all know that was 150 years ago!
Anyone who's seen the movie knows the story: Robbie Hart (Stephen Lynch) is a wedding singer, talented at what he does and happy in his four piece band with Sammy (Matthew Saldivar) on guitar, George on keyboards (Kevin Cahoon) and Big Lou on drums. Robbie and Linda (Felicia Finley) are getting married soon and Robbie is ecstatic.
At the first wedding we see, Robbie defuses the drunken brother-in-law/best man's speech (horribly inappropriate and rude) and keeps the reception on track.
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