Arts Not Since Carrie…
First let me explain that subject line: Not Since Carrie is the title of a book about flop Broadway musicals, the foremost of which is arguably the titular Carrie, which was, indeed, a musical based on Stephen King’s classic horror tale of telepathy, abuse, and a prom gone horribly wrong. Enjoy some review excerpts here. (Click “What Went Wrong” on the right side of the screen.)
Which brings us to The Wedding Singer, the Broadway-bound new musical based on the hit Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore comedy, which opened a pre-Broadway run last Thursday at Seatle’s 5th Avenue Theater.
I never saw Carrie, but I did see opening night of The Wedding Singer, or at least the first half of it, after which my friend Keith dragged me from the theater and away to a bar. The previous year, Keith had travelled to New York to see Taboo, the England-in-the-’80s musical based on the life of and featuring music written by Boy George and produced by Rosie O’Donnell. Taboo was a notorious flop, and upon fleeing The Wedding Singer, Keith said, “That was much, much worse than Taboo.”
Forgive my reliance on third-party opinion, but based on his Taboo experience alone, Keith’s opinion on the propsects of a would-be Broadway musical is worth more than mine. Me, I found The Wedding Singer: The Musical oddly klunky and close to charmless—crude judgments I found expanded and explained in this review from the website Broadwayworld.com. (My two favorite sentences: “[The song] ‘Come Out of the Dumpster’ seems more about Julia getting Robbie out of an actual dumpster than the friendship builder it should be,” and “It just doesn’t seem realistic that actual people would talk this much about the time period they are in.”)
So far the reviews have been mixed to really mixed, the main exception being this bizarre offering from the Seattle P-I. Of course, these reviews are of a show that’s essentially a workshop, with the possibility of problematic kinks being ironed out before the show hits New York. But can The Wedding Singer do the necessary work before its April 27 Broadway debut?
Place your bets…maybe The Wedding Singer will thrive as a critic-proof must-see for the bridal set, like Mamma Mia with the Abba songs replaced by limp Mr. Mister rejects. Or maybe it’s doomed to follow Taboo…Stay tuned.
the radio ads of this production are painful to the ear! while i don't claim to be a musical broadway show expert, i am tired of seeing movies made into big live productions..seems lazy! how many times can you present the same story? seems similar in how the movie industry does a big screen version of mediocre tv shows from yesteryear..no new ideas or just looking to make money?