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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Chris Commander as George, Tim Gough as Robbie, and Robbie Newton as Sammy - the wedding singers The Wedding Singer
Sutton Arts Theatre
***** A FUN show with a happy ending, a young
cast full of infectious enthusiasm, lively songs, well sung to a fine
band, all jam-packed with the feel-good factor; so what's not to like? Sutton Arts set the bar
remarkably high with West Side Story
last year, their first musical for years, and although
The Wedding
It is an excellent show
in what seems to be the start of a Sutton Arts tradition of an annual
big production musical. Next year’s show has already been announced,
incidentally, with Hello Dolly! Based on the 1998 cult film, the story is simple.
Wedding singer Robbie and waitress Julia are both in love with each
other and are both engaged . . .but not to each other. Bummer!
What a pity . . . but we all know true love will
win out in the end so, unless this is going to be the shortest musical
of all time, there is a couple of hours of trials and tribulations,
emotional heartache and plenty of laughs, before our young lovers end up
in each other’s arms. Tim Gough is an eminently likable lad as Robbie,
good looking, nice smile and with a fine pop voice - and a sort of
bouffant hairstyle which seems to have cornered half the locks in
Sutton. Character development is not one of the strong
points of this musical from Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, but Gough
manages to convey the simple emotional rollercoaster well as his life
first falls apart, and then slowly rebuilds around Julia to its final
happy climax. Gemma Smyth as Julia is a delight. She is an
attractive young lady and has a lovely, clear mezzo soprano voice with
every word clear as a bell. Like Gough she shows her changing emotions
well and although their characters are a bit two dimensional the pair of
them manage to get you caring about Robbie and Julia and w Around them, adding strong vocal support, are
Robbie’s band with George, the gay keytar player with a sort of Jewish
dreadlock hairstyle, played in fine style, nicely camp without becoming
stereotyped, by Chris Commander and on rhythm guitar, Sammy, played in a
laid back style by Robbie Newton. Good natured Sammy is not one of
nature’s gifted intellectuals, but his heart is in the right place –
even if his brain is struggling to keep up.
Sammy is the ex of Julia’s cousin and best friend
Holly, a fellow waitress, played by Phebe Jackson, another with a lovely
voice. She dismisses Sammy’s attempts at any reconciliation, but with
two hours and a happy ending to go . . . who knows? Then we have the fiancées; first up is Linda, who
decides she wants an in yer face rock star not an MOR wedding singer
like Robbie. Louise Conway shows us the two sides of Linda, the
supposedly sweet girl unsure about marriage and the raunchy Linda with a
dance that steamed up quite a few glasses down the front few rows. She
also has a powerful voice, just made for rock or jazz And in Julia’s corner we have Glen Gulia, played
with vainglorious egotism by Paul Atkins. Glen, permatan, no doubt a
gold chain, is a junk bond trader and the sort of bloke you
instinctively want to punch. A nice portrayal of hedonistic conceit. There is a lovely character cameo from Mavis
Atkinson as Robbie’s grandma, Rosie. The sweet old lady with the less
than innocent poems and asides. There is something surreal about grey
haired grannies chucking in profanities with a blameless beaming smile. Then there is the ensemble, all 22 of them
Director Dexter
Whitehead, responsible for West Side
Story incidentally, has instilled the
need for a good pace in his cast and, as with last year’s production,
using the full stage with its lack of flies and wings and meant some
ingenuity was needed which was provided with a Legoland of a set from
Whitehead and Sutton Arts own team. Robbie’s bedroom is a fold out bed in the corner,
Rosie’s house and Julia’s house are both walls rolled out from the side,
everything else whether dumpster or bar, boxes for tables or a
collection of chairs are magicked out of the side stage gloom.
Everything is carried, pulled, folded or rolled on and off by the cast
as they enter or exit which means scene changes are rapid and seamless
with no dead pauses to break up the rhythm.
A bank of six video screens with both graphics
and visuals along with two smoke generators all add to the atmosphere in
what is a very entertaining and very funny production with many of the
laughs coming from throwaway asides. The result is a fun, entertaining
show which saw everyone leaving with a spring in their step and a smile
on their face. To 25-06-16 Roger Clarke 17-06-16 Perhaps the stars of the show on Friday were chairman Colin Edge and his team after Plants Brook, running behind the theatre, overflowed overnight and the front row, lower than ground level, was under six inches of water which had to be pumped out and carpets dried in a frantic battle against time before curtain up, which was managed with little time to spare. |
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Singer
hat
happens to them. And you can’t ask more of your leads than that.
,
playing wedding guests, drunks, fake Billy Idol, Tina Turner and so on
as well as chorus and dancers.