Footlight Players opens 86th Season with Broadway Musical ‘The Wedding Singer’
July 17, 2017
photo credit Stan Foxworthy
Charleston’s historic community theatre kicks off its 86th season with a musical featuring everyone’s favorite 1980s hits. “The Wedding Singer” will open the new season for The Footlight Players on Aug. 11. The play runs through Aug. 27 at the historic Footlight Theatre, 20 Queen St.
The musical is based on the 1998 romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. The musical version appeared on Broadway in 2006. It was nominated for the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical.
It’s 1985 and rock-star wannabe Robbie Hart, who still lives in his grandmother’s basement, is New Jersey’s favorite wedding singer. He’s the life of the party until his fiancée, Linda, leaves him at the altar.
Shot through the heart, Robbie is so distraught that he makes every wedding as disastrous as his own. When he meets Julia, an admiring young waitress, Robbie falls madly in love. The only trouble is that Julia is about to be married to a Wall Street shark, and unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a decade, the girl of his dreams will be gone forever.
With a score that pays loving homage to the pop songs of the 1980s, “The Wedding Singer” takes us back to a time when hair was big, greed was good, collars were up, and a wedding singer might just have been the coolest guy in the room.
Directing the Footlight Players production is Nakeisha Daniel with musical direction by Manny Houston and choreography by Megan Pue.
Performances are 8 p.m. Aug. 11, Aug. 12, Aug. 18, Aug. 19, Aug. 24, Aug. 25, Aug. 26 and matinees at 3 p.m. Aug. 13, 20 and Aug. 27. Tickets are $35 for adults, $32 for military/seniors and $25 for students. Order tickets online at footlightplayers.net or by calling the box office at 843-722-4487.
The Footlight Players is offering seven mainstage productions for this 86th season; it normally offers six mainstage shows.
“Producing shows is what Footlight does best and this year we are again making history,” Jane Broadwater, executive director at Footlight. “Four musicals are on this season’s schedule, which we’ve never done in a singular seasonal schedule. We’re excited for our most robust season yet.”
This year’s lineup includes:
- “The Wedding Singer” – Aug. 11-27 (musical)
- “An Act of God” – Sept. 15 to Oct. 1 (comedy)
- “The Addams Family” – Oct. 20 to Nov. 5 (musical)
- “Annie” – Dec. 1-17 (musical)
- “Vanya & Sonia & Marsha & Spike” – Jan. 19 to Feb. 4 (comedy)
- “Dial ‘M’ for Murder” – March 9-25 (thriller)
- “Singin’ in the Rain” – April 27 to May 13 (musical)
Season memberships are available for all seven shows or patrons can select a package of either four or five shows for a customized season.
About The Footlight Players
The Footlight Players launched in 1931 with a series of one-act plays directed by Lt. Commander Charles Russell Price at the Charleston Navy yard. The series was such a success and drew such a following that The Footlight Players formally organized and incorporated in the fall of 1932. To this day, The Footlight Players continues to provide professional quality, affordable community theater for the Lowcountry at the historic Footlight Players Theatre, 20 Queen St. in Charleston. For more information, visit footlightplayers.net or call 843-722-4487.
