Show History

History

Inspiration

The Wedding Singer is based on the 1998 hit movie of the same name. Written by Tim Herlihy and directed by Frank Coraci, the romantic comedy starred Adam Sandler as a wedding singer in the 1980s and Drew Barrymore as a waitress with whom he falls in love. The film was produced by Robert Simonds for $18 million and grossed $80.2 million in the United States and $123.3 million worldwide.

Productions

Featuring music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin and a book by Beguelin and Tim Herlihy, The Wedding Singer had its world premiere at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington. Previews began on January 31, 2006, before officially opening on February 8, 2006, and running a limited engagement through February 19, 2006.

The Wedding Singer then went on to begin previews on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on March 30, 2006, opening officially on April 27, 2006, and closing on December 31, 2006, after 284 performances and 25 previews. It was directed by John Rando, with choreography by Rob Ashford and featured Stephen Lynch as Robbie.

Follwing its Broadway run, a national tour of The Wedding Singer was launched in the Fall of 2007, playing 31 cities through the fall of 2008. Another U.S. and Canadian tour ran from 2009 to the Spring of 2010. In addition to these productions, The Wedding Singer has had huge regional and international success, playing to markets in the UK, Spain, Australia and Germany, to name only a few.

Cultural Influence

  • The original Broadway cast recording of The Wedding Singer was released by Sony on June 6, 2006.

Trivia

  • The Wedding Singer was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score, as well as eight Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics.
  • The song, "Pop!", was removed for the U.S. national tour because the set pieces for the song were too big. With this plot change, Glen proposes to Julia over the phone instead of at the restaurant in "Pop!"
  • Only two songs from the 1998 film also made it into the musical and both were co-written by Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy.
  • Although the major plot of the musical is the same as that of the 1998 film upon which it is based, there are numerous little differences throughout.