Feature  

Wedding/Ring

Two new musicals, The Wedding Singer and Ring of Fire, offer sneak peeks to the press.

(Photo © Michael Portantiere)

Recently, two new musicals that are set to open on Broadway this spring gave the press a look at some excerpts. On Friday, January 6, we saw and heard a few numbers from the Matthew Sklar-Chad Beguelin-Tim Herlihy show The Wedding Singer, based on the 1998 film of the same title. Here's Stephen Lynch (center), who plays wedding singer Robbie Hart, with Matthew Saldivar (left) and Kevin Cahoon (right) as his bandmates Sammy and George.

(Photo © Michael Portantiere)

Considering Robbie's line of work, it's qutie ironic that he's left at the altar by his fiancée. He then begins to develop an affection for a beautiful waitress named Julia (played by Laura Benanti), the only trouble being that she's engaged to someone else. Here, Julia asks Robbie to sing at her wedding in the lyrical ballad "Dumpster."

(Photo © Michael Portantiere)

Lubricated by some excellent booze, our hero and his pals extol the virtues of being "Single."

(Photo © Michael Portantiere)

Even if you haven't seen the movie, you can probably guess how the musical ends. Here at Robbie and Julia's wedding are Saldivar again as Sammy with Amy Spanger as Holly, Julia's cousin/best friend...

(Photo © Michael Portantiere)

...and here's a photo of the very cute, very happy couple after the ceremony.

(Photo © Michael Portantiere)

On Wednesday, January 11, the Johnny Cash musical Ring of Fire met the press. In lengthy remarks before the preview, director Richard Maltby, Jr. made it clear that no one actually plays the legendary Cash in the show. Among the stars are Tony Award winner Jarrod Emick, last seen on Broadway as Peter Allen's boyfriend in The Boy From Oz...

(Photo © Michael Portantiere

...Grammy Award winner Lari White, who'll be making her Broadway debut in Ring of Fire...

(Photo © Michael Portantiere

...and Jeb Brown, whose New York credits include Aida, I'm Not Rappaport, and Game Show. (If you're wondering about all the guitars, Maltby noted that 40 of them are used in the show!)

(Photo © Michael Portantiere

Here's a shot of Brown and White performing "While I Got the Time"...

(Photo © Michael Portantiere

...and here are Emick and Beth Malone in "Daddy Sang Bass."

 

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