One of the great parts of my quest to support regional theatre and writing for UTBA is it has forced me to check out theatres a little outside my hometown of Draper. One example is the Heritage Theatre in Perry Utah. It takes me over an hour to get to this small theatre that is housed in an old church, but I’ve never regretted the trip and yesterday was no exception. I was able to enjoy the closing night to their take on The Wedding Singer. Keeping in mind this is a small amateur theatre I think they did a wonderful job, and I appreciate I could feel them stretching themselves musically, thematically and in all other aspects of the production.

The most impressive aspect of The Wedding Singer at Heritage is the live band they had for all the music. No backtracks on this one! The music is by Matthew Sklar with lyrics by Chad Beguelin and a book by Beguelin and Tim Herlihy (who also wrote the movie.) Those who are familiar with my film criticism know I’m not the biggest Adam Sandler fan but I do think The Wedding Singer is his best movie and they capitalize on the most winning aspects of the movie for this musical (this is the 2nd time I’ve seen it but it was years ago.) The script is genuinely funny and they’ve added some very catchy bops especially “Someday” sang by Julia in one of the first scenes.

Spencer B Stevens played Robbie for Heritage and while his voice is not the most polished I’ve heard he did a good job channeling Adam Sandler (who let’s face it doesn’t have the greatest voice to begin with!) Ivy Combe was very sweet and charming as Julia and the 2 had lovely chemistry together. I also enjoyed Austin Williams as Sammy and Holly Lowell as Holly.

I was very impressed with the production design (set designer W Derek Hendricks) full of 80s colors and lights. They even create a dumpster for a scene and a deloreon for the evil Glenn (William Bruce Baird in an appropriately slimy performance.) I appreciate the folks at Heritage went out of their comfort zone for this show. They gave the audience ample warning of the mature content and it added to the humor with a slight feeling of shock factor (you don’t expect to be seeing Grandmas cursing and things like that at a small local theatre in Perry, Utah.) Regional theatres should push themselves in all directions in my opinion.

Directors Bree and Derek Hendricks said in the bio they have directed The Wedding Singer before and that experience probably helped them get the most from all their actors and like I said having a live band on stage really added to the appeal of the show. I’d say go out and support this fun, engaging show but last night was the closing night so I cannot. Still, I hope they feel good about their production and know I was thoroughly entertained.

To find out more about the Heritage Theatre click here.

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