The Wedding Singer - New Alexandra Theatre

Photo: Darren Bell

Adam Sandlers classic cult comedy film 'The Wedding Singer' was given a new lease of life at the New Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, in its second UK tour since its first performance in 2006.


Matthew Sklar, Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy's musical makes its intentions very clear from the outset, this will be a fantastically fun and carefree night of comedy, and it sure delivered on that front. From the moment Ben Cracknell's lighting design dazzles the audience, with Sklar's joyous overture, the audiences faces were grinning with delight.


Nick Winston's direction and choreography was hilarious, outrageous and inventive throughout the production, a stand out moment coming from the choreography at Act Ones finale 'Saturday Night in The City'.


Jon Robyns played an hilarious Robbie Hart throughout the performance, engaging the audience throughout the piece and allowing the audience to see every essence of his characters journey throughout the show. Equally, Cassie Compton played a brilliant Julia Sullivan, and the pairing of the two together was beautiful, a true leading pair. Ray Quinn was showcased wonderfully as Glen Gulia, showing how he truly is a triple threat musical theatre performer. The highlight of the night however, was the unexpected double act of Ruth Madoc's Rosie and Samuel Homles George, the pair absolute blew the audience away, especially in Act Two, with a song that words couldn't do justice!


The whole cast however, should be commended for energy and effort that was shown throughout the production, not once did I ever feel the pace of the piece drop, and this could be seen from the tight nit ensembles commitment throughout the show, each playing an array of characters so well, that it would be a tough job trying to tell who was playing who!


There were unfortunately a few technical issues on the first, despite Francis O Connor's inventive use of projection, the sound of the sets transitions were distracting and Ben Harrison's sound design was unbalanced, unfortunately the dialogue and songs were lost to an overpowering band. It was a shame that for a show that was so heavily involved in a rock band, that the vocals of the piece were lost, especially with Chad Beguelin's hilarious lyrics.


The Wedding Singer is an incredible 3 hours of escapism and the perfect care free summer treat. Catch it while you can at The New Alexandra Theatre – Birmingham.