Romance and rock at “Wedding Singer”

“THE WEDDING SINGER” at the Westminster Community Playhouse is a rollicking production (WCP photo).

By Thom deMartino

As the J. Geils Band once so eloquently stated, “love stinks” – or so wedding singer Robbie Hart (Devon Suraco) is about to discover, in the new musical comedy production playing at the Westminster Community Playhouse.

In “The Wedding Singer,” it’s the mid-1980’s, and Robbie and his friends Sammy (Mark Gregory) and George (Daniel Scipio) make up the band Simply Wed, playing for newlyweds at their post-nuptials parties: but soon it’s going to be Robbie’s turn, as he himself cheerfully announces at the gig the band is playing. At the same reception and waiting tables is Julie (Kat Gutierrez), who shares Robbie’s optimism and herself dreams of her own wedding someday.

However, when his fiancée Linda (Lau Miranda) breaks up with him at the altar -– not even in person, but in a letter – Robbie is crestfallen. Julie, on the other hand, goes to dinner with her Wall Street banker boyfriend Glen (Gerald Monreal) and is ecstatic at his surprise proposal of marriage.

With the help of his friends and his grandmother Rosie (Glenda Wright), Robbie is talked into breaking out of his depression and getting back to performing: but the heartbreak is too much for him, infecting the wedding he and the band plays, to the point that he turns the happy reception-goers into an angry mob. It takes the effort of his friend Julie to help Robbie get back to work (now doing bar mitzvahs), and she even invites him to accompany her to register for her own wedding. But it seems the emotions between the two are deepening: what will become of their friendship, and Julie’s own dream wedding?

While you wouldn’t think the 1998 Adam Sandler film would adapt well into a musical, it really does – catchy numbers such as “Someday,”All About the Green” and “A Note From Linda” (sung like a classic power-ballad by Miranda) keep the comedy going, and there are some excellent performances throughout the show by Suraco, Gutierrez, Katie Pease (as Julie’s friend and Sammy’s ex-girlfriend Holly) and Wright as Robbie’s grandmother. And while the Westminster Community Playhouse is currently in the midst of upgrading its sound equipment for the theater, any slight sound issues do little detract from the rollicking show.

Slightly risque, without being too blue, “The Wedding Singer” at the Westminster Community Playhouse is a marvelous 80’s flashback for all audiences and ages.

“The Wedding Singer”, Devon Suraco and Kat Gutierrez star in this musical adaptation of the Adam Sandler comedy hit full of 1980’s nostalgia. Playing through June 18 at the Westminster Community Playhouse, 7272 Maple St, Westminster, CA 92683: ticketing information available online at http://www.wctstage.org, or call 714-893-8626.