'The Wedding Singer' – Wow! Wow! Wow!

What a crazy weekend! On Saturday the cast and crew of the Dexter Community Players' The Wedding Singer worked on hanging and counterweighting the drapes and curtains. Lighting is well underway, sound systems are all in place and the mirror ball is hung!

Of course, nothing ever goes smoothly. Some of the fly rods we had planned to use to hang set pieces ended up not being available or didn’t function properly. As a result, a window piece that was going to fly in and out is now on a cart that will roll in. A few of the signs will probably be cut or put in the lobby because there isn’t room, and the great window and lights effect for the night club has been altered to a lighting gobo.

Of course, the audience would never have known there were different plans for the set, but we’ll keep that a secret between you and me.

On a personal note, Saturday I spent some quality time with my sweet cat Chelsea to say goodbye. None of us are immune to the effects of aging including our pets. Chelsea aka “the cat” joined our family in 1990 and lived to a ripe old age of 20 years and 10 months. That is old for a cat! Thank you Chelsea, for 20 years of purrs.

Sunday we were able to share a little of our music with the good folks at the St. Joseph Fun Festival in Dexter. Michael Barbour, Andrew Buckshaw, Maddy Buckshaw, Katy Kujala, Linda Lee Austin, Samantha Kempf, Breanna Kempf, Will Meurer, Kennedy Shuck, and (eventually) Andrew Miller joined me and accompanist Brian Rose in the oppressive heat of the mid-day sun to entertain the crowds enjoying the festival and their wonderful broiled chicken dinner.

It seemed appropriate for us to sing while people chew (a line from the play). We performed from 12:15-2:45 p.m. Thank you so much to Fr. Brendan Walsh, Sharon Ingersoll and her son, and St. Joseph's for allowing us to perform.

From 2:30-5:30 p.m., we rocked it out with John Tartaglia’s group of amazing musicians at our sitzprobe. It was totally awesome to hear it all come together. We had nine amazing musicians playing guitars, bass, percussion, drums, pianos, synthesizers and all kinds of wind and brass instruments. All I can say is wow! wow! wow!

Forget the play, just come hear the band. (Just kidding, the show is great, too.) It made such a difference to hear ourselves with the full band orchestration. It just doesn’t compare. Many of the crew members were dancing in the room as we rehearsed. Unfortunately, we don’t get to play together until this Wednesday.

Following the rehearsal, Andrew Buckshaw, Katy Kujala, Tally Chomic, Kyle Patton, Bobby Kucinski, Andrew Miller, Maddy Buckshaw, Michael Barbour, Ron Baumais and I joined the very talented Edwin Hoffman at WAAM to speak about the show on “Speaking of Art."

Ed was a very gracious host and allowed us to talk about The Wedding Singer for an hour. It was a treat to be able to share more about the show and the actors with his listeners.

Of course, a busy day like that would not be complete without a great Chinese buffet dinner. I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with all the talented people and can’t wait for Friday to have an audience. 

Doing a show is always bitter-sweet. Just when you have all the dance steps and harmonies down, just when the crew finds their sweet rhythm, just when it all comes into place, it’s over. These next four rehearsals will put the polish on the jewel and then we present our gift to the community (jeez – that is really sappy!)

Anyway, please plan to come see The Wedding Singer this weekend. Take a break from the horrific heat and come inside to the beautiful and air conditioned Dexter Center for the Performing Arts in Dexter High School and be prepared to tap your feet, laugh, maybe cry a little, and be thoroughly entertained. Curtain times are 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Advanced tickets are available at www.DexterCommunityPlayers.com and at the Dexter Pharmacy on Baker Road for $12 each and at the door for $15 each.