'Love, loss and The Wedding Present': Inside new musical inspired by legendary Leeds band

Reception is a new musical inspired by the songs of David Gedge and his bands The Wedding Present and Cinerama.

Forty years on from The Wedding Present’s debut single ‘Go Out And Get ‘Em, Boy’, the musical will be performed from August 22 to September 6 at The Warehouse in Holbeck.

Set in the summer of 1985, Reception begins in the same place the Wedding Present was formed: The University of Leeds. The jukebox musical follows a group of students through life milestones and tests their friendships over time - there's a funeral, a hen do, a wedding, and of course, a reception.

Reception is written and directed by Matt Aston, seasoned theatre professional and lifelong Wedding Present fan. He’s seen David Gedge perform over 70 times and in fact it was at one of these performances that the idea for a musical began.

In 2009, when David Gedge performed with the BBC Big Band, Matt was in the audience. Here, he saw for the first time the theatrical possibilities that lay within the musician’s catalogue.

Matt told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “The arrangements of the songs were so different, from an indie guitar band to easy listening, slightly jazz style, slightly Frank Sinatra.

“There were lots of horns, lots of trumpets, lots of strings. And that was my first kind of inkling just kind of went, I'd just started directing at that point. I thought, maybe there's something in there. “

Another gig, this time seeing Cinerama play alongside a 16 piece orchestra in 2015, cemented Matt’s belief that David Gedge’s songs have a place in the musical theatre world.

A few more years later in 2019, Matt attended another Wedding Present gig where, he bumped into Tony Ereira, director of Leeds-based record labels Come Play With Me and Clue Records. He told Tony of the idea who then connected Matt with David. Soon, the musical wasn’t a fantasy project but something that The Wedding Present’s own frontman believed in.

The next challenge was to craft a story around the sound.

Reception is not a biographical retelling of The Wedding Present events but its premise takes inspiration from the band’s student history, and their record label name Reception Records.

Matt wanted to focus on university friendships because of the “pivotal” part they play in your life, both when you’re studying and in the decades after graduation.

He said: “(With university friends) you live in each other's pockets for three or four years and then you might go and live in separate towns but they're still friends.

“There are university friends of mine that I've not seen for years and years and years but I could phone them up if I was in trouble they'd come and get me.”

Reception chronicles how friendships build, break, and come back together, through the “down to earth” lyricism of David Gedge’s music.

The intention is to create a story that appeals both to decade-long Wedding Present fans and to those who have never heard the band’s music before by mixing the classic sound with new arrangements.

Matt said: “Some of the songs will sound like Wedding Present songs and we want Wedding Present fans to come and see it.

“But it also has to appeal to people who've never heard The Wedding Present before. It’s almost like new music if you’ve never heard the songs. We hope the show and the story and these new songs is something that people will buy into.”

To stay faithful to the Leeds-focus of the musical, Reception’s cast are a collection of professional actors and a community ensemble from the Leeds area. For Matt, it has been “magical” to see the cast add character to the story and bring the show to life.

He said: “The whole process of rehearsals for me is just the best. You bring that creativity into the room and people bring ideas and changes and it is hard work and it is full on but it's a wonderful process.

“You see the show finally come together”.

Next week, Reception will open for audiences. Fans who wish to fully immerse themselves into the action can buy Wedding Guest tickets which feature premium cabaret-style seats, a glass of fizz on arrival, a souvenir programme and even a seven inch Wedding Present limited vinyl.

Just like the music of The Wedding Present, musical is a theatre show trying something different. Matt hopes audiences find joy in the journey they watch on stage told through the well-known music.

He said: “A good night out can mean that it makes you think or it makes you laugh, it makes you cry. But I always hope that theatregoers have a good night out.”

Reception will play at The Warehouse in Holbeck from August 22 - September 6.