Wedding Singer Lyrics – All Songs from the Musical

"The Wedding Singer" – The Musical Guide & Song Meanings

Review

What is the show really selling: romance, nostalgia, or the soothing fantasy that heartbreak can be solved with a key change? “The Wedding Singer” plants its flag in 1985 and runs on pure escalation. The jokes keep coming, the choreography keeps winking, and the score keeps insisting that sincerity is still allowed, even if everyone’s outfit looks like it lost a bet.

Chad Beguelin’s lyrics are best when they act like character tells rather than decade references. Robbie’s language swings between swagger and panic, which is exactly the voice of a guy whose livelihood depends on reading a room. Julia’s lyric world is hopeful but not naive; she sings the dream of “Someday,” then spends the rest of the show negotiating what that word costs when the groom is a slick Wall Street infomercial. The writing’s smartest move is not the punchlines. It is how quickly a celebratory “wedding singer” persona curdles into humiliation once Robbie gets dumped at the altar, and how the show uses songs as emotional evidence, not just a party playlist.

Musically, Matthew Sklar writes in bright, propulsive theatre-pop that borrows the silhouette of the era without turning the whole night into parody pastiche. The sound is synth-friendly and danceable, but the craft is Broadway-tight: clean verse-to-chorus momentum for comedy numbers, then big, stable harmonic ramps for the romantic turns. The show’s thesis is simple and mostly effective: in a world full of performative love, the guy who performs love for a living might be the only one taking it seriously.

Copyright note: This guide does not reproduce full song lyrics. It focuses on meaning, context, and how the writing functions in performance.

How It Was Made

The Broadway version opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in April 2006, but the show’s real trial-by-fire happened first in Seattle at The 5th Avenue Theatre in early 2006. That pre-Broadway engagement mattered because this is a musical built on speed. If the comedy lags, the romance feels forced. If the romance feels forced, the decade jokes feel desperate. The creative team went in with a clean mandate: adapt the 1998 film’s shape, keep the crowd-pleasing set pieces, and write new songs that sound like they grew up in the 1980s without pretending they were actually written then.

The book is credited to Beguelin and Tim Herlihy, with music by Sklar and lyrics by Beguelin. That split is a clue about the show’s personality. The stage version is not trying to “improve” the movie into prestige. It is trying to repackage it as a dance-forward musical comedy with a beating heart, then dare you not to grin when the cast hits an MTV-era move perfectly on a dime. Even the cast album timeline tells you how hard Broadway pushed it: the recording was made during the opening period and hit stores in June 2006.

Key Tracks & Scenes

"It’s Your Wedding Day" (Robbie & Company)

The Scene:

Opening reception at a New Jersey banquet hall. Bright party lighting, high-energy choreography, and Robbie working the crowd like a man who could sell affection to a brick wall.

Lyrical Meaning:

Robbie’s job is to manufacture joy on command. The lyric builds his identity as a professional optimist, which makes his later collapse feel earned, not melodramatic.

"Someday" (Julia)

The Scene:

Julia’s first night on the job, watching other people’s weddings up close. Softer focus, a quieter pocket of stage space, the feeling of standing near a dance floor but not inside it.

Lyrical Meaning:

“Someday” is a romantic promise with a built-in trap. The lyric frames marriage as destiny, then the show spends two acts asking whether destiny is just peer pressure in nicer packaging.

"Pop!" (Holly, Angie, Julia & Company)

The Scene:

A restaurant date engineered to produce a proposal. The staging is busy and public, like Julia is being proposed to by a brand, not a person.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric turns the act of proposing into a consumer event. It is funny, but it also underlines the show’s real villainy: not Glen’s money, but his entitlement.

"Somebody Kill Me" (Robbie)

The Scene:

After the altar disaster. The room shrinks, the jokes vanish, and Robbie’s emotional mess becomes the only set piece that matters.

Lyrical Meaning:

This is the show’s permission slip to get darker than the neon. The lyric is exaggerated despair, but the function is real: Robbie’s persona has cracked, and the audience has to see what is underneath.

"Saturday Night in the City" (Holly)

The Scene:

Holly takes the spotlight in a nightlife fantasia. Club lighting, confident movement, and a sense that she is narrating her own movie for once.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric gives the show its most explicit counterpoint to “Someday.” Holly is not waiting. She is choosing, and the choice is agency, not romance.

"Casualty of Love" (Robbie & Company)

The Scene:

A bar scene full of wounded strangers. The lighting goes dingier, the choreography gets looser, and the room feels like a support group with beer.

Lyrical Meaning:

Robbie’s heartbreak becomes communal. The lyric reframes pain as membership, which is how the show nudges him back toward connection instead of isolation.

"Move That Thang" (Robbie & Company)

The Scene:

Airport and travel chaos as Robbie races to stop the Vegas wedding. Fast transitions, prop comedy, and momentum that reads like panic dressed as determination.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is pure forward motion. It is the musical’s argument that love is an action, not a feeling you wait around for.

"Grow Old With You" (Robbie)

The Scene:

Las Vegas, wedding interruption, and the emotional ask in front of everyone. The staging often strips back into a direct, heartfelt address, as if the show finally stops performing and just speaks.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is intentionally plain. After two hours of posing, it lands because it is not clever. It is specific, domestic, and adult, which is Robbie finally growing up mid-song.

Live Updates

Information current as of 2 February 2026. There is no announced Broadway revival in the major Broadway calendars, but the title is very much alive where this kind of comedy thrives: colleges, regional theatres, and community companies. MTI continues to license the show, and MTI’s own production listings and pricing pages reflect steady activity across the US and UK.

Recent examples: Wright State Theatre’s published 2025 to 2026 season includes “The Wedding Singer” as an April 2026 co-production. A Los Angeles-area revival at The Colony Theatre drew review coverage in June 2025. In the UK, MTI lists licensed performances such as a June 2025 run in Sunderland, and venue and producer promo trailers keep appearing for 2025 and 2026 bookings. If you want to see it now, do not search Broadway first. Search your nearest performing arts calendar.

Notes & Trivia

• The Broadway production opened April 27, 2006 and closed December 31, 2006 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, with previews beginning March 30, 2006.
• The Original Broadway Cast Recording was released June 6, 2006, and Playbill reported it was recorded May 1.
• MTI notes that “Pop!” was removed for the US national tour because the set pieces were too large, and the proposal plot point was reworked.
• Apple Sandler and Tim Herlihy’s “Somebody Kill Me” from the film is incorporated into the stage musical’s score.
• The show earned five Tony nominations, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score, and Best Choreography.
• Masterworks’ album materials summarize Act I song-by-song, effectively doubling as a quick listening roadmap for the narrative.
• AllMusic lists the cast recording’s release date as June 6, 2006 with a runtime just over an hour.

Reception

Critics in 2006 were divided in a way that makes sense for a film-to-stage adaptation: the craft and energy were acknowledged, but the score and leading couple chemistry were debated. The more interesting part is what the reviews reveal about the lyrics. The show’s jokes were called relentless, even strategic, but the softer songs got measured by a harsher standard: if you are selling a romantic lead as a professional entertainer, the writing has to prove he can stop performing and still be worth loving.

“A premise this flimsy … requires two crucial elements this show does not have: a corker of a score.”

“The show has at least a flutter of a hedonist’s pulse.”

“Trades on 1980s nostalgia with a ferocity that would put a VH1 marketing executive to shame.”

Quick Facts

• Title: The Wedding Singer
• Year: 2006
• Type: Musical comedy adaptation
• Based on: The 1998 film “The Wedding Singer”
• Music: Matthew Sklar
• Lyrics: Chad Beguelin
• Book: Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy
• Director (Broadway): John Rando
• Choreography (Broadway): Rob Ashford
• Broadway venue: Al Hirschfeld Theatre
• Broadway dates: First preview March 30, 2006; opened April 27, 2006; closed December 31, 2006
• Pre-Broadway: World premiere at The 5th Avenue Theatre (Seattle), February 2006
• Selected notable placements: “It’s Your Wedding Day” as the reception opener; “Pop!” as the proposal set piece; “Move That Thang” as the travel sprint; “Grow Old With You” as the Vegas declaration
• Cast album: Original Broadway Cast Recording released June 6, 2006; Masterworks Broadway / Sony (as credited in label materials)
• Availability: Streaming and digital retailers list the recording, including Masterworks’ official page and major music services
• 2025–26 status: Actively licensed by MTI; frequent regional and educational productions listed and announced

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the lyrics for The Wedding Singer musical?

Chad Beguelin wrote the lyrics, with music by Matthew Sklar and a book by Beguelin and Tim Herlihy.

Is there an official cast recording?

Yes. The Original Broadway Cast Recording was released June 6, 2006, with release and recording details reported by Playbill and listed by major music databases.

Does the musical use songs from the 1998 film?

It is mostly new material, but it incorporates “Somebody Kill Me,” associated with the film’s writers, as part of Robbie’s breakdown moment.

Why does “Someday” matter so early in the show?

It sets Julia’s worldview as romantic certainty, which the plot then stress-tests when “Someday” becomes a deadline with the wrong partner.

Is the show currently running on Broadway?

No. It closed in 2006, but it remains common in licensed productions and appears regularly in regional and educational seasons.

Key Contributors

Sources: IBDB, Playbill, Masterworks Broadway, Music Theatre International, The Washington Post, Broadway.com, AllMusic, BroadwayWorld, StageSceneLA.