Wedding Singer Showtime

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REVIEW: The Wedding Singer - Frankston Arts Centre

by Richard Walsh
Arts Hub
Monday, March 31, 2008

With National Youth Week running from the 5th to the 13th of April it seemed like a good time to see some of Australia’s up-and-coming stars performing at the Frankston Arts Centre in Panorama Youth Theatre’s spectacular Victorian premiere The Wedding Singer.

This production is the directorial debut of James Ness, an outstanding young actor who has burst onto the scene in recent years. Ness has risen to the challenge in this large scale production and proven himself as a versatile artist who understands the basic elements of theatrical craft.

Those of you who are fans of the movie The Wedding Singer are all too familiar with this hilarious tale of broken hearts, silly songs and shattered rock‘n’roll dreams. The plot has been developed to make it more interesting on stage but fans will be relieved that the overall flavor has remained true to the essence of the original.

Panorama introduces James Rees as Robbie, our love struck wedding singer tragi-romantic hero, and Rees quickly establishes himself as a performer with a fantastic presence, vocal range and comic timing.

His singing mostly hit the mark, the same with his guitar, and he is at his best when he loses himself in the character. The parts I enjoyed most were the parts where Rees allowed his own interpretation to eclipse the strong image left by the film.

Julianne Wilkinson is well cast in the role of Julia, our heroine, and manages to turn in a solid performance, hit some high notes and work well with Rees to create the kind of chemistry required to pull off this type of romantic comedy.

Sean Butler successfully makes the role of Sammy his own showing great promise in developing his own character outside the boundaries laid down in cinema. Butler has an enormous amount of natural timing and a mature outlook on his craft.

Tim Blencowe’s George, a boy who worships and mimics Boy George, is a crowd favorite. Blencowe has some of the funniest lines in the whole show and doesn’t waste a single one of them.

Luke Vare delivers in the role of Glen, a sleazy 80s entrepreneur with a sack full of money and one thing on his mind. In a role that could have easily been over the top Vare turns in a performance that is wonderfully understated and has depth as well.

Tessa Fox shows great vocal prowess in the role of Linda as does Avril Campbell-Smith in the role of Holly.

Catherine Booth is a rising star who portrays Rosie, our hero’s grand mother, with skill, understatement, chutzpah and a fabulously creative imagination. As everyone knows it is easy to play a role younger than you but playing an older character very rarely convinces anyone.

Booth achieves this in a charismatic, endearing no fuss kind of way that belies the difficulty of what she is achieving and makes you laugh until, as the program says, “your ribs are sore!”

Also worthy of mention from the talented young chorus are Elly Makris (Angie), who shows enormous promise in this production and is definitely someone to watch out for and Will Sayers (Ricky) who seems as at home on the stage as a veteran vaudeville star.

Kurt Abell has done a tight job with the music and Eli Cooper’s Choreography is first class.

Overall this production is a side splitting non stop high energy extravaganza that will only make you sorry when the curtain falls. The future of Australia’s stages is in good hands.

Start Date: Friday 28 March 2008
Finish Date: Sunday 6 April 2008
Duration: 2hours 30 mins
Venue: Theatre
Session Days/Times: 28-29 March & 3-5 April @ 8pm; 30 March & 6 April @ 2pm
Ticket Cost: Adults $26 PSSU $24 U/16 $22. Groups of 10+ are available please contact the Box Office on: 9784 1060
Production Company: Panorama Theatre Company