The Whitworthian

Issue date: 11/20/07 Last Updated: 11/29/07

Attention '80s lovers: This season of WestCoast Entertainment's Best of Broadway touring productions will include a new stage version of "The Wedding Singer."

The book for the theatrical production was co-written by Tim Herlihy, who also wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

A former writer for "Saturday Night Live," Herlihy is also the mastermind behind the screenplays for almost every other campy goof-ball movie that Sandler has starred in, including "Mr. Deeds" and "Happy Gilmore."

Nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the Broadway version's highlights are the '80s pop-culture references, energetic musical score and humorous attitude with which it revisits the decade.

"Everything was balls to the walls in the '80s, so doing the show is just fun because you can play around," the actress in the role of Linda, Andrea Andert, said.

"The Wedding Singer" is the story of Robbie Hart, singer in a wedding band who once had aspirations of becoming a singer-songwriter but now lives in his grandmother's- basement in New Jersey, and Julia, a waitress who becomes the target of Robbie's affections once he is jilted by his trampy fiancee.

Unfortunately for Robbie, Julia's already engaged to a dishonest Wall Street shark.

While the central focus of "The Wedding Singer" revolves around the love story of Robbie and Julia, the raving reviews so far have been directed towards Linda, Robbie's slutty ex-fiancee (Andert) who ditches him at the altar.

A review on broadwayworld.com names Andert as "a stand out who exudes that '80s self-awareness and voracious sexuality;" providing "both of the evening's biggest laughs."

Even more impressive is the fact that Andert was originally an understudy for the role of Linda.

Originally Andert was cast as one of three dancers and was understudying all of the lead parts, but when the actress playing Linda dislocated her shoulder within the first week of the show, Andert stepped up to the part.

"I'd looked at all of the other stuff more than I had looked at the part of Linda," Andert said. "Linda wasn't my first priority at that point. My roommate knew the part better than I did, but she was in the grandma suit getting ready to do that role, so they threw me in."

Andert said the first time she played Linda she was literally given three minutes to prepare.

"Next time they cast me as an understudy I'll study more," Andert said. "Last year when I was on tour the same type of thing happened, and in that sense I'm like 'why do I always get stuck with last-minute understudy calls?'"

Dancer, singer and actress, Andert has performed in a myriad of shows since high school, including "Cabaret," "Chicago" and "West Side Story." She has also performed in the Barnum & Bailey Circus doing Lyra (suspended ring dancing) and plate spinning.

"In general I really like the triple threat roles - acting, singing, and dancing. I enjoy being that kind of sassy, vixen character who is really smart but has layers that can be peeled away," Andert said.

In "The Wedding Singer" Andert portrays the stereotypical hard-edged rocker chick, and says it's always fun to revisit her favorite era of music - the late '70s and late '80s.

On performing in a production set in the '80s, Andert said the cast has fun but stays away from bad perms and excessive amounts of hairspray. A hair-do nightmare revisited?

"Oh God no," Andert said. "If that was the case my hair would fall out. We have wigs galore."

While her niche is in Broadway, Andert still describes herself as an "even-keeled lover of movies," and said it's hard to compare the two.

"Films are great because you get to feel more of an internal attraction to the film, but then musical theater is an immediate gratification," Andert said. "Some people get so stagnant sitting there watching a movie, but theater really gets you involved - you can laugh out loud, scream, and be in each others' faces."

Contact Blair Tellers at blair.tellers@whitworthian.com.

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