Rom-com craziness, celeb impersonations make Metropolis say “yes” to “The Wedding Singer”
Photos provided by Jennifer Heim
When Adam Sandler became “The Wedding Singer” on the movie screen towards the tail end of the 1990s, he and co-star Drew Barrymore redefined the idea of a romantic comedy, while simultaneously re-introducing all things ’80s to an entire generation.
That’s currently happening once again on a local level though Sunday, May 24, thanks to the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre’s presentation of the Broadway-adapted musical, which was written by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy, featuring music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin and direction from Chicago’s own Amber Mak.
Star-in-the-making Abraham Deitz-Green takes the title role of Robbie Hart, an extremely in-demand wedding singer until his own love life goes down the drain, courtesy of the somewhat crazy Linda (Katherine Abel), and leads to going off the rails during the next set of nuptials.
Luckily there’s fellow banquet hall waitresses Julia Sullivan (Teah Kiang Mirabelli) and her cousin Holly (Jamie Dillon Grossman) to lift his spirits, alongside Robbie’s Simply Wed bandmates Sammy (Danny Dollase) and George (Andres J. DeLeon).
Unfortunately, Julia already has a boyfriend turned fiancé, the much less exciting, corporately-minded and kinda jerky Glen Guglia (Peyton Schoenhofer), which means Robbie has serious competition if he hopes to one day win her heart, let alone walk together to the altar.
Luckily his feisty Grandma Rosie (Caron Buinis) is often around for advice and a bit of raunchy comic relief, especially when at least a few back-up plans fail miserably and provoke many more rounds of misunderstandings, forcing a split-second decision to fly to Las Vegas and try to prevent a certain couple’s elopement.
It’s there he encounters the “White Wedding” chapel owned by a Billy Idol impersonator, in addition to other offshoots involving President Ronald Reagan, Mr. T, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper and Gloria Estefan look-a-likes, who use their quirky characteristics to lend loads of sass and moral support.
Despite their songs not being used in the production, which might seem like it would be disappointing, at least the original soundtrack is sturdy enough on its own and even features a pair of compositions from Sandler himself.
In fact, the road to resolution culminates with the extremely important recurring question of “Will you sing at my wedding?,” answered ever so appropriately by the show’s signature track, “Grow Old With You,” which is all met by a resounding “yes” as the Metropolis can’t help but get swept up in a ceremony that was always meant to be.
“The Wedding Singer” continues at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre through Sunday, May 24. For additional details, visit MetropolisArts.com.







