Drama department begins rehearsals for November staging of “The Wedding Singer”
Junior Noah Nordman, who is playing the lead role in the musical, rehearses the lyrics with the rest of the performers. The play “The Wedding Singer” will take place on Nov. 14 and 15 at LN.
LN singers, dancers and actors have collaborated to put on several musicals and plays over the years, and the 2014-2015 school year is no exception. The first such production of the year is LN’s own performance of “The Wedding Singer.”
“The Wedding Singer” is a musical based on the 1998 Adam Sandler film of the same name. It takes place in 1985, and tells the story of Robbie Hart, the titular wedding singer, who falls in love with Julia Sullivan. The musical follows the confusion and misunderstandings of their romance, all with the humor you’d expect from an Adam Sandler film. The cast of the musical includes junior Noah Nordman as Robbie and junior Jena Dickerson as Julia, parts originally played by Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, respectively.
“I loved the original movie and I saw the national tour on Broadway. I think it’s one of the funniest and I wanted something brand new, and not something that had been done before,” said Stacy Embry, drama teacher and director of the musical.
Unlike most drama productions at LN in the past, “The Wedding Singer” will not feature orchestral accompaniment.
“We’ll miss having Mr. Wallis and the orchestra in the pit, but [the musical] is set in the ‘80s, and we wanted to make it really authentic,” said Embry. The musical will use a lot of ‘80s synthesizer and techno-pop music as its soundtrack, much like the 1998 film and 2006 musical based on it.
Not all of the students in the musical are in the Drama Club. Many of them have not had much acting and have never performed in an LN production before. Many other students have appeared on the LN stage before. For example, sophomore Emma O’Leary worked on both performances last year, once as an actress and the other time backstage.
“I love it. It’s a passion, and I’ll keep doing it no matter how many times I screw up,” said O’Leary.
The musical will be performed on Nov. 14 and 15. Ticket prices are $5 for students and $7 for adults.
About being involved in musical theatre, O’Leary said, “The people are great. They are the most fun, and funny people I have ever met, and Mrs. Embry is a fabulous instructor. I also love just going out there and being fun on stage. It’s the one place I can truly express myself.”
