The Wedding Singer: All You Could Want From a Warm Summer's Night

TriArts has its first hit of the summer.  “The Wedding Singerâ€� is a loud, raucous, energetic return to the 1980s with charmingly banal music, near tribal dance moves, bad (oh, so bad) clothes and (in memory at least) innocence.  

   Based on one of Adam Sandler’s better movies — maybe because a dewy Drew Barrymore costarred — the musical (by Chad Beguelin, Tim Herlihy and Matthew Sklar) played briefly on Broadway. It tells of Robbie Hart (Rich Krakowski), a would-be rock star who earns his keep by singing with his motley band at New Jersey weddings. You know, the ones held in Jersey party palaces with long cocktail hours, seated dinners of inedible food, toasts, music and dancing.  

   Robbie himself is about to be married to his fiancée Linda (Heather Holohan) when he meets a party palace waitress, Julia (Caitlyn Caughell),  who is hoping to get engaged to her boyfriend, the up- and-coming Wall Streeter Glen Guglia (Jeffrey F. Wright III) (She aims to be Julia Guglia). There is chemistry (cue a moment of blindingly white light) between Robbie and Julia, but they quickly return to thoughts of his wedding and her prospective engagement.

   Then the skank Linda dumps Robbie at the altar by note, complete with kissy face and a broken heart instead of dot over the “iâ€� in her name.  He becomes depressed, especially when Julia gets her ring.  The rest of the wispy plot involves how the two find each other for the “happily ever afterâ€� ending.

   What saves the show from its own banality are the performances, direction, choreography and constantly moving sets.  (Clothes from the 80s were so appalling that costumes —  clearly authentic — had best be mentioned as little as possible.)

   Krakowski has some of the loser look of Sandler, but he can sing up a storm and move well.  Caughell, while a little awkward in movement, sings beautifully.  And their duets are delights.

   Holohan is a force of nature on stage:  She looks statuesque with her long legs, dances with crisp authority and, in a bid to patch things up, sings her big number, “Let Me Come Homeâ€� with outsized sexiness. (Robbie wisely throws her out.)

   The supporting characters, mostly young graduates of performing arts schools — in particular NYU — are terrific, especially Sammy (Jared Weiss), Holly (Linda Calhoun) and George (the endearing Jordan Stanley, who makes fey OK). If the characters themselves are cardboard, the performances are infectiously assured and happy.

   Then, of course, there is Rosie (Emily Soell).  Playing in a “Golden Girlsâ€� Sophia Petrillo wig and using a Jersey accent, Soell brings down the house with her first act song and second act rap (yes, rap).

   She is so good that you’ll wonder why she never tried acting for a living.  (Okay, maybe I go overboard.  But even if she has been my close friend for more than 20 years, she’s fabulous here.)

   John Simkins has directed the show with his usual flair and attention to detail and movement.  Sometimes it may seem a little frantic, but because the cast is young and agile it works.  So does the choreography by M K Lawson, an NYU theater school graduate young enough to understand the young bodies of her cast and use them to terrific effect.  Erik Diaz’s sets are many and mobile.  The lighting is good, the sound design is good, especially since levels were brought down after opening night, and Michael Berkeley’s musical direction of his offstage, eight-piece band, outstanding.

   “The Wedding Singerâ€� is about youth and silly romance. About energy and hopes. About fun. Who cares if you leave the theater unable to hum a single song. You leave smiling.  Who wants much more from a summer night?