North Central brings revamped 'Wedding Singer' to the stage
It's a nice day for a wedding at Naperville's North Central College.
Unfortunately for the groom in the student-directed musical “The Wedding Singer,” that nice day never actually comes together.
Fortunately for audiences, they get to witness the hilarious fallout from the breakup — made famous in the hit movie starring Adam Sandler — when the stage show opens March 3 in Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave., Naperville.
“The basic storyline is there, all the crazy shenanigans come into the show,” said Max DeTogne, a sophomore majoring in speech communications and theater from Arlington Heights. “Some of them are taken out and changed a little bit. Robbie and Julia and Linda are all still present in the show.”
DeTogne's character, Robbie Hart, thinks he's found love with longtime girlfriend Linda. But when Linda stands him up at the altar, Hart, a professional wedding singer, has a hard time continuing his work celebrating other people's unions.
He goes on to meet waitress Julia Sullivan and begins to fall for her.
Although the stage production shares the same storyline as the movie, there are some major differences said co-director Kaylee Oost, a senior majoring in theater.
In a very music-based performance, the stage version is a little less Billy Idol and David Bowie and more the original flavor of the production's nine-member ensemble and 17-member cast.
“Ninety-six percent of the movie's music is not in the show,” Oost said. “Everything else is more original score rather than a play on '80s hits. There's a lot of '80s melodies behind the music, but it's to a different sent of lyrics.”
Robbie's friend Sammy, who auditions to be a limo driver for Julia in the movie, is actually a bassist in Robbie's band Simply Wed in the stage production.
North Central's version will pay homage to Robbie's heartbreak, but with a little less angst and obvious humor, cast members say.
“It's a little less depressing than Adam Sandler depicts in the movie,” DeTogne said. “There's no Jon Lovitz quote ‘he's losing his mind.'”
Although much of the music will be different from the movie, a couple of classics remain, such as the song written by Robbie in the days after the wedding: “Somebody Kill Me Please.”
“Being able to just go crazy and let loose onstage is my favorite part of the show,” DeTogne said.
Sandler's funny love song “Grow Old with You” with lyrics such as “so let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink; put you to bed when you've had too much to drink. I could be the man who grows old with you. I want to grow old with you” also remains in the stage version.
“The show is very upbeat. It's very funny. It's a lot of fun,” Oost said.
“The Wedding Singer” runs through March 3-6 with show times at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and a 2 p.m. show Sunday.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens.
“It's just a great feel-good kind of get-up-out-of-your-seat-and-move kind of show,” Oost said. “No one will leave without a smile on their face, and that's a good feeling.”
For details, call (630) 637-7469 or visit northcentralcollege.edu/showtix.
If you go
What: North Central College's production of “The Wedding Singer”
When: 7:30 p.m. March 3-5, and 2 p.m. March 6
Where: Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave., Naperville
Cost: $15 adults, $10 students and senior citizens
Info: (630) 637-7469 or northcentralcollege.edu/showtix