The Wedding Singer's Christian Charisiou Interview

Rebecca Varidel
2nd Jun 2021

G'day Christian,

I've seen you described as Actor, Singer, Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker (on your management website). Take us through your bio. What is the favourite thing you've done so far in your career?

That was just my fun way to say I try to do everything! I graduated from NIDA in 2013 from the Acting Degree where I was the trial year for the Musical Theatre version of the course. Since then I've been doing it all - Plays, Film and TV, Voice Over and Musical Theatre. Cry Baby at the Hayes in 2018 was my first lead in a musical (which is coming back to the Opera House from July-August this year), and then things started to really change; I did The Last Five Years at the Ensemble Theatre, The Dismissal with Squabbalogic and was lucky enough to play lead roles in an animated series and an animated film!

The favourite part of my career to date, would have to be a tie between playing Robbie Hart in The Wedding Singer and voicing my character 'Sol' in the animated series Space Nova. Both with incredible teams attached and unbelievably fun experiences.

You're about to step into some big shoes on stage - do you take the same shoe size (or bigger) than Adam Sandler?

It's a huge honour to be gifted this role and Adam Sandler has some pretty big shoes to fill, but, I'm confident that what myself and the team have created will fill those shoes well. The musical version of the film dials everything up to the most energetic level it can be, and the way Robbie is written has really allowed me to take what Adam Sandler did and really run with it. I'm having a lot of fun playing this role every night.

How many times have you watched the movie of The Wedding Singer?

I grew up with the film, so in my life I've watched it at least a dozen times and I think between auditions and rehearsals I watched it another 5 times, so, that's nearly 17 times...it's such a good film, I think I'll watch it again actually!

Can you give us a cheeky peek inside rehearsals/the show? How are they going? Go on share the goss.

Rehearsals were amazing and moved very fast. The creatives and cast worked so hard to get this thing up in just 3 weeks! We had two rehearsal rooms working on scenes and dance numbers and then bringing it all together. We all came in knowing most of the material and that was the secret to how fast we moved.

We opened in Adelaide's Her Majesty's theatre for three weeks then moved to Melbourne where we got most of the way through our 7 week season before unfortunately being suspended due to lockdown in our last week and a half. We'll be getting through it though, so don't worry, we are definitely on the way, Sydney!!

You're from Sydney, and you're opening here in Sydney for the last leg of the show. Will your mum come? Will you celebrate? Give us a tip for your favourite place to celebrate so we can celebrity spot after the show...

I'm so excited to be bringing this show to my home! It's going to be my first major musical in Sydney, so it's a special one. My family is going to be there so many times, they will need a special reserve section!

We are performing at the State Theatre so if I'm in the city I like to go to Frankie's Pizza because I can get a drink and a few slices after the show, but I hear it's potentially closing down?! If it's closed, I might take the crew to Palmer and Co. or The Baxter Inn.

The Wedding Singer
State Theatre Sydney from January 5th
www.ticketmaster.com.au