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The Wedding Singer
updated: Nov 24, 2009, 12:17 PM

by Leslie

It is always a pleasure to visit the newly refurbished Granada Theater. So much history, brought to grand new life ... I'm really grateful to Ed for giving me free tickets to Monday evening's performance of The Wedding Singer, because I do love the Granada.

Wish I could say the same for the show.

As a fan of the orginal movie version of WS, I went into the show with modestly high expectations. They were not met. Not even the modest ones. The stage version of The Wedding Singer struggled from the opening scene - a show in search of an identity hidden somewhere in an overly convoluted plot line and ho-hum musical numbers. (No amount of light and sound and other technical wizardry can make up for mediocre music.) On a personal note, I found the over-the-top bawdy sexuality of the show's one older romantic pairing to be insulting both to seniors and the fine art of innuendo, which, when practiced with a light touch, can be quite witty. This was not the case last night.

Despite the best efforts of the cast - who at times appeared almost desperate to overcome the paltriness of the script and music - this show simply failed to charm. While the curtain rose to a full house, by the end of intermission, I'd guess at least a third of the audience had decided they had better ways to spend a lovely Monday evening in Santa Barbara.

I stayed, looked around at the grand old Granada, and like the rest of the remaining audience members, clapped politely - and with a certain amount of relief - at the show's end.

(Thanks, though, Ed!)

Review from Cristina and her daughter

Thanks again for the tickets !

It was wonderful to have this treat for a night out because my college student daughter was in town for the holiday and we had a great mother daughter night on the town!

Unfortunately we cannot give you a 100% good review. The performers were amazing... great voices, excellent performance, The backdrops were colorful and so creative..and in some scenes spectacular. However we cannot say as much for the story or the music! The choreography was fair. There were some clever or spectacular scenes like the Linda scene where she sings her letter to Robby or the "Flashdance" deja vu scene by Holly. The theatre was at least 80% full at the beginning of the show. I noticed during intermission that many left.

My daughter's review is included as well...

The Wedding Singer should have stayed a movie. The storyline of the musical stayed true to the movie and was stupid. Thankfully there was an amazing cast that did a riveting job of delivering their performances. Each cast member stole the show in their own way even the ensemble. J. Michael and Jillian Zygo’s chemistry was amazing and their voices were twice as amazing. George stole the show every time he appeared on stage and made his quirky comments and played a mean keyboard guitar. Seeing the boys do their “Single” song led by Adam Clough had me laughing for five minutes after the number was over. I loved the choreography throughout the whole show and loved that they threw in little Michael Jackson tributes throughout the show. Another thing that kept me happy throughout the boring storyline was the amazing set designs. The backdrops and props were very detailed and incredible.~Nina Gilmore

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