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Michael and Jillian Zygo play lead roles in 1980s musical at E.J. Thomas Hall
By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 08:24 p.m. EDT, Oct 20, 2009
Many of us will never forget the leg warmers and parachute pants of the 1980s. The musical The Wedding Singer has that and so much more, bringing audiences back to the days of big hair, Boy George, the infancy of MTV, mullets, the Material Girl and Miami Vice.
The musical adaptation of the hit 1998 Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore movie, which opened on Broadway in 2006, will play this weekend at Akron's E.J. Thomas Hall, with three performances Friday and Saturday.
The story, set in 1985 New Jersey, is billed as a love song to the '80s. Wannabe rock star Robbie Hart, a popular wedding singer, is left at the altar and starts sabotaging everyone else's weddings. He ends up falling for sweet waitress Julia but she's engaged to a big-time Wall Street broker.
In the current non-Equity tour, real-life husband and wife Michael and Jillian Zygo play Robbie and Julia. The pair met onstage during their studies at SUNY-Geneseo.
Although they've performed in other tours together, this is the first time they've played opposite each other.
''Every single night he [Michael] gets to propose to me and I thoroughly enjoy that,'' said Jillian. ''I feel so blessed that we're together that I just embrace it and drink it in.''
The Zygos have the benefit of a real-life offstage chemistry, which they say directors have told them translates very well onstage. In fact, in a scene where Robbie and Julia meet for the first time, the Zygos appeared a little too comfortable together in rehearsal.
''We kinda had to work backwards,'' Jillian said.
Working together onstage has added benefits, especially if the couple has had any quarrels in real life before a performance: ''By the end of the show, whatever was bothering us tends to be over because we fall in love all over again,'' Jillian said.
When The Wedding Singer premiered on Broadway, the New York Times blasted it as a rip-off of the 1980s, with a relentless flow of pop cultural references that made it seem as if the creators were keeping some sort of tally. The Zygos, who were in elementary school in that era, take a much more lighthearted approach to the show, which is truly retro for them.
''It is like teal and peach. It looks like the '80s threw up onstage,'' said Jillian, describing the opening wedding scene.
Michael said the show is a loving homage to the decade, with references to everyone from Michael Jackson to Tina Turner and music that sounds like the arena rock of Van Halen and Journey.
''It's portraying the '80s the way it was, and it just happens to be funny,'' he said. ''When your hairdo adds 5 inches to you, that's pretty funny.''
The original movie had music by Billy Idol, the Police, Psychedelic Furs, David Bowie and more. The musical version includes two movie songs written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy but the others, for copyright reasons, were created by Matthew Sklar in the genre of '80s rockers such as Bon Jovi and Heart.
The musical speaks to the excesses and conspicuous consumption of the time, most pointedly through Wall Street shark Glen. The Act II opener All About the Green speaks to that greed.
The people in Robbie and Julia's lives include Madonna and Boy George look-alikes. The musical has a different ending from the movie, with a bonus wedding set in Vegas, attended by a handful of celebrity impersonators.
''It's a party from start to finish. Everyone who sees it just has fun,'' Jillian said.
''It's just a nice love story,'' Michael said. ''Robbie is an idealist and a romantic, and so is Julia.''
Theater writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
Details
Musical: The Wedding Singer
When: 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: E.J. Thomas Hall, 198 Hill St., Akron
Cost: $32.50-$52.50
Information: 330-972-7570, 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com.
Many of us will never forget the leg warmers and parachute pants of the 1980s. The musical The Wedding Singer has that and so much more, bringing audiences back to the days of big hair, Boy George, the infancy of MTV, mullets, the Material Girl and Miami Vice.
The musical adaptation of the hit 1998 Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore movie, which opened on Broadway in 2006, will play this weekend at Akron's E.J. Thomas Hall, with three performances Friday and Saturday.
The story, set in 1985 New Jersey, is billed as a love song to the '80s. Wannabe rock star Robbie Hart, a popular wedding singer, is left at the altar and starts sabotaging everyone else's weddings. He ends up falling for sweet waitress Julia but she's engaged to a big-time Wall Street broker.
In the current non-Equity tour, real-life husband and wife Michael and Jillian Zygo play Robbie and Julia. The pair met onstage during their studies at SUNY-Geneseo.
Although they've performed in other tours together, this is the first time they've played opposite each other.
''Every single night he [Michael] gets to propose to me and I thoroughly enjoy that,'' said Jillian. ''I feel so blessed that we're together that I just embrace it and drink it in.''
The Zygos have the benefit of a real-life offstage chemistry, which they say directors have told them translates very well onstage. In fact, in a scene where Robbie and Julia meet for the first time, the Zygos appeared a little too comfortable together in rehearsal.
''We kinda had to work backwards,'' Jillian said.
Working together onstage has added benefits, especially if the couple has had any quarrels in real life before a performance: ''By the end of the show, whatever was bothering us tends to be over because we fall in love all over again,'' Jillian said.
When The Wedding Singer premiered on Broadway, the New York Times blasted it as a rip-off of the 1980s, with a relentless flow of pop cultural references that made it seem as if the creators were keeping some sort of tally. The Zygos, who were in elementary school in that era, take a much more lighthearted approach to the show, which is truly retro for them.
''It is like teal and peach. It looks like the '80s threw up onstage,'' said Jillian, describing the opening wedding scene.
Michael said the show is a loving homage to the decade, with references to everyone from Michael Jackson to Tina Turner and music that sounds like the arena rock of Van Halen and Journey.
''It's portraying the '80s the way it was, and it just happens to be funny,'' he said. ''When your hairdo adds 5 inches to you, that's pretty funny.''
The original movie had music by Billy Idol, the Police, Psychedelic Furs, David Bowie and more. The musical version includes two movie songs written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy but the others, for copyright reasons, were created by Matthew Sklar in the genre of '80s rockers such as Bon Jovi and Heart.
The musical speaks to the excesses and conspicuous consumption of the time, most pointedly through Wall Street shark Glen. The Act II opener All About the Green speaks to that greed.
The people in Robbie and Julia's lives include Madonna and Boy George look-alikes. The musical has a different ending from the movie, with a bonus wedding set in Vegas, attended by a handful of celebrity impersonators.
''It's a party from start to finish. Everyone who sees it just has fun,'' Jillian said.
''It's just a nice love story,'' Michael said. ''Robbie is an idealist and a romantic, and so is Julia.''
Theater writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
Details
Musical: The Wedding Singer
When: 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: E.J. Thomas Hall, 198 Hill St., Akron
Cost: $32.50-$52.50
Information: 330-972-7570, 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com.
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