The Wedding Singer (2006 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Laura Benanti, Stephen Lynch, Original Cast | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 6, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000EU1PQO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,822 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #49 in Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Musicals > Contemporary Musicals

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When it comes to retro-action, it's hard to top The Wedding Singer, the 1980s-set film in which Adam Sandler sang in a wedding band and looked for his own true love. The soundtrack was wall-to-wall 80s hits and the movie played up visual references to that decade. Now we have the stage version, and it's even more retro than the movie, except this time around the songs are originals, written by Chad Beguelin and Matthew Sklar. ("Somebody Kill Me" and "Grow Old With You" actually are the ones originals from the film.) The duo has delivered a silly-but-fun pop score that often refers to 80s musical styles without hitting you over head with them—-you'll hear nods to early Madonna and Prince and a whole lot of cheesy synth lines. Think of it as the 80s answer to Hairspray. Opener "It's Your Wedding Day" and "Someday," for instance, will stick in your head for days on end. Singing comedian Stephen Lynch proves to be an endearing leading man, while silver-throated Laura Benanti takes up the Drew Barrymore part. But it's belter Felicia Finley who steals the show with her two Pat Benatar–ish numbers, "A Note from Linda" and "Let Me Come Home." --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good 80's-style score, June 8, 2006

By 

Steven Valenti "svclue" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wedding Singer (2006 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

As far as musical comedy scores go, "The Wedding Singer" is the best since "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." It's instantly tuneful, witty, and more enjoyable than I really expected it to be. Firmly grounded in the pop styles of the 80's, writers Matthew Sklar (music) and Chad Beguelin (lyrics) have a lot of fun both mocking and honoring the decade (the obligatory synthesizer corniness recalls last year's "Altar Boyz"). They've done a good job crafting a score that works theatrically in its own right, and not just as a string of parodies. The cast-- which includes Tony-nominee Stephen Lynch, Laura Benanti, and Amy Spanger-- is solid, and they bring great vocals and energy to the score's numerous catchy songs (highlights include "It's Your Wedding Day," "Casualty of Love," "Not That Kind of Thing," and "If I Told You"). I suppose how much you like it might depend on your predilection for all things 80's, but this is one of the most downright likable of recent cast recordings. (Listen, too, for what has got to be an intentional shout-out to another 80's themed musical, "Taboo.")

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Not Meant To Be Sondheim - Just Plain Fun!, June 6, 2006

By 

AJK (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wedding Singer (2006 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

Based on the classic film starring Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore, "The Wedding Singer" is a light romantic comedy set in a world of 80s-filled nostalgia. The musical never takes itself too seriously, but instead brings back many memories of that decade's pop culture.

Led by Stephen Lynch & Laura Bananti, the cast sounds great, but the songs are a mixed bag - most terrific, some not so much. Overall, this is an enjoyable, fun cd and worth the purchase (especially, if you can catch the show), but the score's unlikely to stand the test of time for theatre lovers.

Best Tracks:

It's Your Wedding Day
Someday
Casualty Of Love
Saturday Night In The City
If I Told You
Let Me Come Home

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Minty fresh and zestful, August 18, 2006

By 

stuey "Yet Another Jewish Musical Genius" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wedding Singer (2006 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

Though I am loath to say something nice about a real-life Broadway score by a composer younger than I, the fact is there's lots of nice things to say about this. Any old fool can plug in a Casiotone with its built-in bass lines and say, "here's some 80's music for you." Ingenious Jewish composer Matthew Sklar, however, has honed in keenly on the decade's frenetic rhythms and gotten them to support the kind of tidily jagged, halting melodies that defined pop music for us Gen-Xers back in the day. These compositions well evoke the decade's exuberance ("Someday When It's Me," "Not That Kind of Thing," "Right In Front of Your Eyes") and hard-rock intensity ("Let Me Come Home," "Casualty of Love"). Two exceptionally well-crafted pieces ("It's Your Wedding Day" and "If I Told You") stand as fine rock-n-roll songs on their own, without the costumery of period-parody. The spot-on ode to bachelorhood, "Single," is tough to categorize, but anyhow it's great fun.)

Lyricist Chad Beguelin repeatedly proves as apt at skewering the decade's culture as Sklar is at capturing its sound. Even the mere rhythm and tempo of "Saturday Night in the City" conveys the era's legendary night-club indulgence, and Beguelin shines a laser-sharp light on frenzied consumerism. "All About the Green" is the send-up of unchecked greed that DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS' "Great Big Stuff" number tries and fails to be. "Pop!" has young girls more awash in Maybelline, minty-fresh-and-Zestfully-clean than Madison Avenue could have dreamed.

This score's essential strength is that it doesn't try to be any more than it can (a lesson hard-learned by the MISS SAIGON people but which didn't stop BROOKLYN, LITTLE WOMEN, and LENNON from staining the Great White Way in a manner that begs a Sklar/Beguelin ode to Mop-n-Glo). One of my fellow reviewers blasted this CD for being "not art, it's corporate greed." News flash: Broadway musicals have ALWAYS been a for-profit business. Moreover, if corporate greed were the wellspring of this work, they'd have picked source material more bankable than a mediocre eight-year-old popcorn movie and they wouldn't have hired a songwriting team whose two previous works didn't even make it to Broadway. There are reasons why this one did: it promises only entertainment and massively delivers. At Amazon's prices, this is a bargain-bin full of fun, 80's memories, and great tunes.