Legendary Broadway star Kay Cole, who portrayed Maggie in the original production of A Chorus Line, has joined the cast of The Wedding Singer at The Colony Theatre, it was announced today by Heather Provost, Producing Artistic Director. She joins the previously announced Blake Jenner (star of Glee and the Netflix series What/If).
Kay Cole is an actress, director, and choreographer. Growing up on the road, she took dance classes from the best teachers in every city across the USA. She began performing professionally at the age of six. Her Broadway credits include Bye Bye Birdie (1960), The Roar of the Greasepaint–The Smell of the Crowd (1965), Hair (1968, also the LA production), Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), and A Chorus Line (1975). Off-Broadway credits include Best Foot Forward (alongside Liza Minnelli and Christopher Walken, 1963), Rainbow (1972), National Lampoon: Lemmings (1973), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road (1975), Road to Hollywood (1984), and One-Man Band (1985). Los Angeles theatre credits include Zen Boogie (1978), I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road (1980), Les Misérables (1988), Havana Music Hall the Musical (2017), and The Man Who Came to Dinner (2023). Onscreen, she has appeared in dozens of film and television productions including The Carol Burnett Show, Grace and Frankie, The Phil Donahue Show, It Takes a Thief and Switched at Birth. She directed the world premiere of the comedy Desperate Writers (Los Angeles and off-Broadway, 2007), The Dining Room (2009), the musical I Only Have Eyes for You: The Life and Lyrics of Al Dubin (which she also choreographed, 2006), and In a Booth at Chasen’s (2018). She choreographed three iterations of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks — the world premiere in LA starring Uta Hagen and David Hyde Pierce (2001), the Broadway production starring Polly Bergen and Mark Hamill (2003), and the film adaptation. She released her debut solo CD Souvenir in 2020.
This new production of The Wedding Singer will be directed by 10-time Artios Award-winner Michael Donovan, choreographed by Michelle Elkin (Broadway’s Wonderland–associate choreographer, Sutton Foster Live, Young Sheldon, Younger, Sister Act, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Ragtime), and the musical director is Brent Crayon(The Little Mermaid, It’s Only Life–world premiere, A Night With Janis Joplin–Broadway HD). Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA, and Richie Ferris, CSA.
The Wedding Singer premiered on Broadway in 2006 and was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Based on the 1998 hit movie starring Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Christine Taylor, The Wedding Singer harks back to a time when hair was big, greed was good, collars were up, and a wedding singer just might be the coolest guy in the room. It’s 1985 New Jersey and rock star wannabe Robbie Hart is New Jersey’s favorite wedding singer. He’s the life of the party until his own fiancée leaves him at the altar. Shot through the heart, Robbie makes every wedding as disastrous as his own. Enter Julia, a winsome waitress who wins his affection. As luck would have it, 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.
There will be two preview performances on Thursday, June 5, and Friday, June 6, at 8pm, and opening is set for Saturday, June 7, at 8pm. The regular performance schedule will be Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm and 7pm, through June 29. Tickets are available online at www.colonytheatre.org.
The Colony Theatre is located at 555 N. Third Street (between Cypress and Magnolia) in Burbank, 91502. Free onsite parking is available.
