A new "Wedding Singer" crashes Broadway

Mullet hairstyles and turned-up collars. The pop hits of David Bowie, Billy Idol and Culture Club. The mottoes, "It's morning in America" and "Greed is good."

Such cultural touchstones are redolent of the 1980s. And they still resonate for millions of young-ish Americans who came of age in that era of Reagan rule and Rubik's cubes, leg warmers and glasnost.

Among these so-called "Me Generation" members are musical theater artists effecting a gradual sea change on Broadway. Like composer Matthew Sklar, and writers Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy.

All three men are in their 30s. And all are now in Seattle, jointly crafting their first Broadway-bound musical, an '80s nostalgia-fest titled "The Wedding Singer."

This $10 million-plus stage version of a 1998 film has its world premiere at 5th Avenue Theatre on Thursday, and will whisk directly to New York for fine-tuning and a gala April debut.

At heart, the show belongs to a venerable Broadway genre: the song-and-dance-filled romantic comedy. Comedian-actor Stephen Lynch stars as Robbie, a sweet-natured New Jersey band singer doggedly working the wedding circuit. Broadway regular Laura Benanti plays Julia, the even sweeter waitress Robbie falls for, after they both endure painful break-ups with not-so-nice partners. In other words: Boy Gets Girl.

"Bizarre and meaningful"

But "Wedding Singer" is unique as the first (maybe only) musical based on a film featuring Adam Sandler, a star of generation-specific appeal.

And it's notable too as the most recent in an accelerating wave of commercial Broadway tuners devised by writers and composers who came of age in the '80s.

This new breed is giving American musical comedy its own slant, and inspiring backers to stake millions on fresh shows — especially those, like "Wedding Singer," with a hit movie title on the marquee.

But can a fresh crew of creative talent ultimately help lure a younger adult audience to Broadway? Beguelin, 36, the lyricist co-author of the new 5th Avenue show, thinks it possible with properties like "The Wedding Singer."

"The film is vintage now in a way that's funny and bizarre and meaningful," he contends. "For us, there's a bittersweet nostalgia about that time that we want to capture onstage, and I think many people will want to experience it."

Herlihy, the co-writer of the book for "The Wedding Singer" (and an author of the screen version), is relishing his chance to crash the Great White Way.

"When the producers asked for the stage rights," recalls Herlihy, "I said fine if I could be in on it. I was up for something new. And working in a team on a big show like this is a treat for me."

Who cares?

A decade ago, Broadway wasn't so hospitable to such newcomers. And the fabled theater district, long nicknamed "the fabulous invalid," was looking more decrepit than fabulous.

Disney had begun to revitalize the "family" market with hits like "Beauty and the Beast." But new musical comedies for those, say, ages 12 and up? The future seemed grim.

Elder masters of the form were bowing out. Experimentalists weren't so welcome. The British pop-opera era of "Cats," et al., was waning. And many 25- to 40-year-olds didn't even have Broadway on their cultural radar screen.

"I had this fear, this apprehension, that after my generation, who cares about musical theater?," says "Wedding Singer" head producer Margo Lion.

"It seemed like soon everyone would just prefer TV or films or computer games."

Today however, the savvy theater-biz veteran, who in 2002 shepherded another New Line Cinema film, "Hairspray," from the wide screen to 5th Avenue success and Broadway glory, is more optimistic. That's because, says Lion, "There's a terrific new crop of younger writers and composers who really want to work on Broadway."

"Rent" to "Spelling Bee"

A trailblazer in that group (albeit posthumously), was the late Jonathan Larsen, creator of the 1980s/AIDS-themed Broadway smash "Rent." More recently, the genies behind "Urinetown" (including director John Rando, who's also staging "Wedding Singer"), and current hits "Avenue Q" and "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," have also reaped awards and plaudits.

"The most exciting thing is that a new guard is finally being embraced and produced on Broadway," reflects 5th Avenue head David Armstrong. "There used to be this vicious cycle, where you couldn't get in the door unless you'd already had a Broadway hit. Now the door is open in a way it wasn't 10 years ago."

Goofy-satirical humor

And what do the rookies bring to the party? A frankness of language and sexuality their predecessors couldn't imagine. A quirky comic bent. A knack for synthesizer-fueled pop. But also the same nostalgia for their youth prior Americans generations have had, and some old-fangled Broadway know-how.

Sklar has paid lots of Broadway dues as a pianist/conductor for a dozen Broadway shows, including "Miss Saigon" and "42nd Street." And earlier, with Beguelin, he devised a musical that didn't reach Broadway, but stoked Lion's faith in the team's talent: "The Rhythm Club," about 1930s German teens obsessed with American swing dance and music.

For the "Wedding Singer" score (17 songs and counting) Sklar is merging pop styles from the movie's '80s oldies soundtrack with familiar Broadway idioms (and some Sandler ditties from the film). "The challenge is to create real theater music that moves the plot along but also uses '80s-style synthesizers, guitar licks, drum treatments and pop hooks," Sklar explains.

Lyricist and co-author Beguelin has a serious desire to make "Wedding Singer" more than a candy-colored '80s retro-fantasy, with all the garish Jersey trimmings — the music, slang, attitude, fashions.

With Lion's guidance and encouragement, the show includes some criticism of dominant '80s values, most pointedly in "All About the Green." This big musical number is set on Wall Street, where a deflated Robbie goes job-seeking.

"A lot of people then were wrapped up in the idea of being rich and powerful, and the 'yuppie' movement arose," Beguelin notes. "But some, like Robbie and Julia, didn't fit into that mold."

And Herlihy's major contribution? Well, he did fashion the original screenplay, in concert with Sandler and others. But he's also helped to forge a prevalent, goofy-satirical brand of modern humor, during writing stints for TV's "Saturday Night Live" and "The Late Show with David Letterman." And as a writer/producer for a batch of other movies starring his old college pal (and "SNL" alum) Sandler, including the upcoming "Click."

Lion finds that '80s-brewed comic sensibility "satirical, playful but not cynical or mean." Armstrong agrees. "It's not that kind of let's-make-fun-of-everything-because-we-don't-care irony that was popular for a while. I believe we've gotten past that."

When Herlihy articulates his hopes for the "Wedding Singer" he doesn't sound at all snarky or irreverent but actually, well, a bit square.

"I'd like this to be something people will like, if they were around in the 1980s or not," he says. "It's really an old-fashioned story with some added twists and turns to the plot, and a more nuanced view of the '80s."

Aging down?

Whether "Wedding Singer" will be as big a critical fave and audience hit as "Hairspray" (a show with baby-boomer creators but big youth appeal) remains to be seen. So are the prospects for this show (along with "Avenue Q" et al.) for turning more thirtysomethings into stage-door ardent Broadway fans.

But the average age of Broadway patrons has dropped slightly to age 41, according to the League of American Theatres and Producers, as attendance rose about 12 percent over the last decade (from about 9.5 million in 1995 to roughly 11.9 million in 2005).

There's not much buzz yet on "Wedding Singer," which began previews last week, although those behind it are pleased the show had a ticket pre-sale in Seattle well ahead of "Hairspray."

The big task for producers of new musicals, asserts Armstrong, "is to get people in their 30s in the door, re-ignite them and compel them to come back."

"Broadway has been more successful lately in making that happen. And it's partly because of these younger artists."

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com