"Wedding Singer" hits Broadway

NEW YORK — This has not been an auspicious season on Broadway for new musicals. An exception: "Jersey Boys," a rollicking hit based on the true saga of the Four Seasons pop group.

So is Broadway about to embrace another new show about Jersey folk, from the head-banging '80s, rather than the doo-wopping '60s?

We'll soon find out. "Wedding Singer" debuted last night at Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theatre, following a January tryout in Seattle.

Judging from a press preview last week, the show underwent a lot of nipping and tucking since its 5th Avenue Theatre run here. As a result, it's a sunnier, gentler, sleeker affair — but the breadth of its airy, '80s-lite appeal is uncertain.

The plot remains essentially faithful to the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore movie of the same title, scripted by Tim Herlihy (who co-wrote the musical's book with Chad Beguelin).

It's 1985. And nice Jersey wedding singer (played by engaging singer-comedian Stephen Lynch) meets nice Jersey waitress (flutey-voiced Laura Benanti), while both are betrothed to more ambitious, not-so-nice people.

A batch of songs and some dumpster-diving later, singer and waitress discover they're made for each other.

If the show's story line and cast haven't shifted since Seattle, director John Rando and the other creators clearly took to heart criticisms they heard here.

They've altered little things, like changing the hairdo of Benanti's Julia from a frizzy mouse-brown mop to a blond-streaked pageboy.

Bigger fixes were also made. Gone is the superfluous opening number with wedding singer Robbie (Lynch) showering before a gig. Gone too is "Eight Men," a gratingly off-color ode to the sex life of Robbie's doting grandma (endearing Rita Gardner).

The '80s pop-inflected score by lyricist Beguelin and composer Matthew Sklar has been tweaked a bit, but the sweet love duet "If I Told You," the exhilarating Wall Street rock-out "All About the Green" and the spoofy boy-group number "Single" are still standouts.

To give the romance a boost, there's more of Benanti's Julia — who, at the 5th Avenue, was so bland she was largely eclipsed by two sexy blond dynamos: Madonna-esque waitress Holly (Amy Spanger), and the power-voiced fiancée-from-hell Linda (Felicia Finley).

But "Wedding Singer" still feels slight — especially in inevitable comparisons to "Hairspray," a film-to-stage blockbuster the same producing team brought to Seattle for an earlier trial run.

"Hairspray" had a quirkier bent. And its racial integration theme gave it more right-

eous passion and crossover appeal.

While it cheers on the "little guys" over the Wall Street sharks, "Wedding Singer" is about as activist as a Rubik's Cube. And many of its gags are pop-culture specific, with bonus laughs for those scoring high on "Trivial Pursuit: '80s Edition."

But could be there's market enough for those gags, and the '80s pop music quotes, to keep this amiable show going for a quite a while. It does have a $3 million presale, and not much new competition. And the friend I brought along, who was 12 in 1985, loved it.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com