The Kelly Critics is a joint program of the Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh CLO in which students of high schools entered in this year's Gene Kelly Awards review other school's musicals.

As Exciting as a Wedding

The connection and eventual love shared between Robby Hart (Kian McCollum) and Julia Sullivan (Jaime Bruno) could be felt throughout the packed theater. It was Friday, March 13th, but the spectacular students involved in the Chartiers Valley production of "The Wedding Singer" showed no signs of bad luck. An audience of mixed ages sat in the beautiful theater, watching one of the most exciting high school musicals of the season.

From the opening number, "It's Your Wedding Day," performed energetically by McCollum, to the very end, all characters showed their truly infinite talents in an energetic, funny, sad, and meaningful performance. The audience was immediately engaged with a large disco ball that shined out into the crowd, getting everyone into the wedding mood and creating an atmosphere that allowed everyone to have fun.

This production had its fair share of outstanding performances. McCollum, playing a struggling songwriter/ wedding singer, delivered an assortment of mesmerizing musical numbers such as "Somebody Kill Me," a song about his ex-fiancee, that gave everyone a good laugh. He filled the part nicely, including his own live guitar performance, and convinced everyone in the audience that he was Robby Hart, the sweet and mild mannered wedding singer.

At his side, he had an admirable female lead. Bruno made obvious her ability to show the inner emotions of her character, Julia Sullivan, a waitress who plans to marry a masked Madoff in the making. She meets Robby at a wedding and the two become inseparable. They have their defining moments in their duet, "If I Told You," when harmonizing beautifully and when branching off, showing their individually beautiful voices. The two accentuated each other extremely well.

Behind Robby were his exaggerated backup dancers/ singers. Most notably, the eccentric George, played by Connor McRory. Audience members might have seen him when he was a Pittsburgh CLO Mini-Star or in one of his Benedum Center performances. His portrayal of George was flawless and certainly hilarious -- his numerous one-liners and interpretive dance moves kept the audience laughing and anticipating "Move That Thang," his full song with the outrageous and sexually driven grandmother, played by Danielle Brand.

Standing behind Julia was her coworker/ relative, Holly, played by Rachel Miller. She has also had her fair share of stage appearances, in addition to also being a former Pittsburgh CLO Mini-Star. Only a freshman. Rachel's performance as the good-hearted Holly was inspiring and impressive.

Finally, the foil to Julia, Linda, played by Kara Laus, is Robby's crazed ex-fianc??e, one of the two villains of the show. Laus' fiery delivery of Linda's letter to Robby explaining why she is leaving him put us all on the edge of our seats. Accentuated by the bright red lights, Kara gave her character a true evil.

All scenes had complicated and diverse choreography. Dances from many different decades made it into this professionally executed performance, and all dance numbers helped to illustrate the lyrics and music. In addition to awe-inspiring vocals, complicated dance moves encouraged the audience to be further amazed.

Each member of the cast of fewer than 30 learned and executed each song and dance number exceptionally well. In addition to the exceptional student performances, there were multiple students helping behind the scenes to make "The Wedding Singer" a great experience for those. Some spots in the nine-piece pit were filled by students, as well as the positions of Student Technical Director/ Carpenter (John Forton), and Student Stage Manager (Maria Matusic).

While audience members watching the spectacle might not have been able to enjoy prime rib or fish after, they absolutely got their money's worth in this night of excitement and emotion, and the actors and actresses sent the audience members off with an overwhelming feeling of happiness for the newly married couple of Robby and Julia.