No merry marriage: Matrimonial comedy The Wedding Party comes up short on laughs

A wedding should be a joyous occasion. And a multi-character comedy about a disastrous wedding reception should offer lots of laughs.

Unfortunately, neither of those things materialize in The Wedding Party.

Toronto playwright Kristen Thomson's 2017 comedy about a wedding gone terribly, terribly wrong was a hit when it premiered in her hometown — so much so that it saw a remount last year, followed by a run at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa earlier this year.

Something seems to have gotten lost, alas, in the production currently running at Winnipeg's Prairie Theatre Exchange (a co-production with the Arts Club in Vancouver, where it will run early next year).

Which is a shame, given the potential for great comedy (and some deeper reflection, too) in Thomson's script.

Here, a cast of six play upwards of 20 different characters at a wedding. Not among those characters? The bride and groom, who remain an offstage presence.

The focus here is solely on the tension between the two families.

On one side is the working-class family of the bride, headed up by outspoken — and increasingly tipsy — mother of the bride Maddy (Nancy Sorel). On the other is the ridiculously wealthy family of the groom, represented by domineering showboat Jack (Todd Thomson) and his preening wife, Margaret (Luisa Jojic).

Their attempts to play nice go off the rails pretty quickly, as the families struggle for control of the wedding, the desires of the couple be damned — much to the chagrin of put-upon wedding planner Katrina (a suitably frazzled Jasmine Chen).

Throwing yet another wrench into the works is the arrival of Jack's estranged twin brother, Tony (Thomson again).

Also in the mix are a precocious flower girl, a Moldovan weightlifter, and a dog, among a host of other quirky characters, all played by actors who often are required to leave the stage in one role and return in a flash as another. (The real stars here may be costume designer Christine Reimer and the backstage dressers, who manage to transform the actors at a speed that would make most racing car pit crews blush.)

Family tension, a high-stakes day, identical twins and big, broad characters — this has all the makings for fun and frothy farce.

To be sure, there is some entertaining character work in the cast, especially from Andrea del Campo as Tiger, the bride's weirdly intense (and intensely weird) cousin, and Cory Wojcik as Edna, the bride's earthy grandmother.

Todd Thomson does fine work as the twins — both the brash Jack and the bashful Tony, especially in a second act scene where he plays both simultaneously.

And as Margaret, Jojic probably comes the closest to capturing the rhythm of the script.

But a far too languid pace (on opening night, at least) in Ann Hodges's production derails the comedy. 

Snappy dialogue doesn't snap crisply enough, the cast members never feel like they totally gel with each other and what should be a quick comedy drags through a much too long 2½ hours (with intermission).

An ending that should be a reflective denouement after a rollicking romp instead feels like a drawn-out conclusion to the least fun wedding ever.

It's possible the production will find its dancing legs — and its proper pace — over the course of the PTE run, or at least by the time it heads to Vancouver in the new year.

The potential's there — but you may want to think twice about saying "yes" to an invitation to this party.

The Wedding Party runs at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg until Dec. 8. The co-production runs at The Arts Club in Vancouver from Feb. 27-March 22, 2020.