The live version of "The Wedding Singer" isn't a great stage musical, but it does a good job of capturing the spirit of the 1998 Adam Sandler movie about a guy who can't tell a girl he loves her — but can write her a song. The plot follows the trusted romance formula of throwing two people together and then keeping them apart until the finale.

It also creates new '80s-era-type songs that are not hits, but are sweet and clever — starting with "If I Told You," a duet for Robbie and Julia that encapsulates their inability to declare feeling.

"Come Out of the Dumpster" is a novelty number for Julia to rescue Robbie after his depression wrecks a wedding reception. "Today You Are a Man" is the band's ridiculous attempt to play a bar mitzvah, and "Single" is a comic bemoaning of relationships by a gaggle of barflies.

Director and choreographer Scott White puts plenty of snap and crackle into "It's Your Wedding Day" — a full-on chorus number that opens and closes the show — and elicits several good performances.

Thomas McCurdy's Robbie is not quite the droopy sad-sack that Sandler was in the film. He makes Robbie a more likeable guy who sings better, but who just can't get his personal act in order.

Katie Beth Hicks' gives Julia the right naive low self-esteem to obligate her to a brash money hound — played with layers of grasping smarm by Theo Voudouris.

The boys in the band are Sammy — delivered by Garrett Taketa as a comfortably unaware dimwit — and George — created with outrageously androgynous relish by Justin Hashimoto. Other supporting roles go to Caroline Lawo as Linda — who jilts Robbie by dotting her "Dear John" note with a broken heart — and Victoria Morgan as Holly — whose lead vocals pierce the auditorium with the power of a stadium horn. Nanilisa Pascua is a hip Grandma.

Emmett Yoshioka leads a small orchestra, Willie Sabel designs a puzzle piece of a set that is all sliding panels and rolling platforms, and costumer Karen Wolfe and hair designer Jess Aki create a brassy, retro look.

There is a lot going on in this production of "The Wedding Singer" and some of it is downright raunchy. But the action moves the story along, the characters are clear, and the energy is undeniable.

It's not quite music for a summer night — more like the bang and flash of a grandstand show.