“If I Told You” that Fort Totten Little Theatre’s summer production of the musical “The Wedding Singer” is going to be great, I hope you would believe me! The show which will be going up at Roosevelt Park from July 10-27 promises to be a fun and energetic time for the whole family.
Originally a successful, long-running Tony-nominated Broadway production, it is based on the Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore film of the same name.
Boasting a cast of locals but also players from Grand Forks, Jamestown, Lakota, and even outside of North Dakota, the story follows Robbie Hart, a wannabe rockstar who makes his living as a wedding singer. His romantic life isn’t going great, until he meets a new love, Julia. Will Julia be the candle that can light up and inspire Robbie?
“We just felt like it’s a really entertaining show,” said director Stephanie Nelson when asked why this show was chosen. “It’s got a good message in the end. It’s got a lot of good music that the cast loves, I love, our choreographer loves.”
Nelson is bringing the show to life along with music director Valerie Sampson and choreographers Kelcee Baker and Erin Clementich. The show will have incredible singing and lively dance sequences from the professional ensemble cast.
Drew Relling, who plays the lead Robbie Hart, describes his character as a “hopeless romantic. He loves the idea of love.”
“I love the music. Only a couple are from the movie but the original stuff is so catchy. It only took a week for me to get them stuck in my head,” said Relling, who is from Grand Forks. “I hope people walk away thinking they had a good time and they enjoyed the show and think love is really worth it.”
Emma Bennett, who is from Jamestown, plays Julia, Robbie’s love interest. Bennett describes Julia as having “such a big heart and she is definitely romantic at heart and sees that other people deserve good things but not for herself.”
“It’s such a beautiful story. It’s so wholesome at its core,” Bennett said. “It’s got everything. It’s fun for the whole family.”
“The Wedding Singer” will go up at Roosevelt Park on the following dates:
July 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, and 27 at 8 p.m.
July 20 at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. (10 p.m. will be a mature version of the show)
July 27 at 10 a.m.
