This play will be “everything Vegas you could imagine,” according to Director Nicole Amsler. (Photo provided)
By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
Carmel Community Players (CCP) is staging 4 Weddings and an Elvis from Nov. 14 to 21 at The Cat, 254 Veterans Way, Carmel. Since it involves an Elvis, and the play takes place in Las Vegas, we trust the social media puns will fly!
The Reporter suggests not getting “all shook up” when you leave behind your “suspicious minds” so you can “viva Las Vegas” for a couple hours. “Don’t be cruel,” sometimes you “can’t help falling in love” with a good show.
The Reporter spoke with Director Nicole Amsler about four couples who are “crying in the chapel” on stage.
Photo provided
While this is Amsler’s first time directing with CCP, she has directed many other shows, some of which you have read about in the pages of The Reporter.
“4 Weddings and an Elvis is about a bridal shop owner in Vegas,” Amsler said. “There are four vignettes. It’s fun. It’s silly. But it’s about second chances, believing love exists and wanting to have that. It is leaning into the idea that love is what matters. Not every of the four vignettes does actually anybody actually get married.”
There is a revenge wedding where two people have been left by their spouses and are getting married out of spite.
There is a publicity stunt wedding where two aging actors are trying to get news coverage to revive their 1970s TV show “Surfing Secret Agents,” which Amsler called a kind of discount bin Baywatch.
There is a wedding between a female ex-con and a mild-mannered postal employee.
Photo provided
“Her ex-boyfriend breaks out of prison to come break up the wedding,” Amsler said. “It’s a really funny bit where we do find out what true love is.”
Another wedding is between a couple who have been married to one another and divorced four times before. It’s like that old saying, “The fifth time’s the charm.”
Not only will the story be a fun and farcical romp, but the set itself deserves some credit for making this a show audiences will remember.
“It is everything Vegas you could imagine,” Amsler said. “We have Elvis. We have slot machines. We have poker chips. We have an abundance of Elvis memorabilia to build the entire set.”
Amsler continued, “Again this is my first time directing for Carmel, and I have a fantastic cast who are just hilarious. Imagine has-been Baywatch people, an ex-con with a Brooklyn accent marrying a mild-mannered postal worker, and Sandy, who owns the chapel, is very quirky and weird and doesn’t believe in love.”
A fun evening awaits if you “Shake, Rattle and Roll” your way to The Cat, 254 Veterans Way, Carmel, when CCP stages 4 Weddings and an Elvis this month. Get tickets online at tinyurl.com/CCP4Weddings or call (317) 815-9387.
As a special bonus item, this show also includes a bonus Elvis.
