LIFE

'The Wedding Singer' at SGMT is full of fun

Brian Passey
bpassey@thespectrum.com
Stockton Myers plays Robbie Hart and Sara Warr plays Julia Sullivan in St. George Musical Theater’s production of “The Wedding Singer.”

The Southern Utah theater audience is no stranger to spectacle. After all, we have the Tuacahn Center for the Arts here and Tuacahn’s specialty is spectacle.

But if Saturday’s production of “The Wedding Singer” at St. George Musical Theater is any indication, spectacle has spread beyond the red rock amphitheater of Padre Canyon. There were a few times during “The Wedding Singer” where I forgot I was watching community theater — especially during the dance numbers.

Do we realize what a treasure we have with St. George Musical Theater? Not only does it offer year-round musicals itself, I think it’s safe to say that it has also inspired many of the other local community theater companies. I wouldn’t be surprised if Southern Utah has a higher-than-average amount of community theater productions for our population size.

St. George Musical Theater is producing “The Wedding Singer,” a musical based on the 1998 Adam Sandler film.

While I have only seen a small percentage of SGMT’s productions through the years, I have enjoyed a number of them since I moved to Southern Utah in 2004. While some productions like “The Sound of Music” a few years ago were quite good, I think “The Wedding Singer” may be my favorite SGMT production yet.

My wife, Cammie, and I attended the Saturday evening production in the historic St. George Opera House. I can’t think of a better location for SGMT than this wonderful old building. It’s a physical testament to the importance placed upon the arts by the early settlers of St. George.

I’ll admit my memory has faded of the Adam Sandler film that inspired this stage version of “The Wedding Singer.”

In a way that was nice because I didn’t find myself comparing the two. Obviously, I did notice that all those fun ‘80s songs from the film were missing, but that didn’t really matter at all because the original music by Matthew Sklar and lyrics by Chad Beguelin were fantastic and funny.

Tyler Price plays George and Jacob Beecher plays Grandma Rosie in St. George Musical Theater’s production of “The Wedding Singer.”

As with any community theater production, some voices are better than others and there did seem to be a few microphone issues, but those were only minor flaws in an overwhelmingly fun production. The ‘80s references in the dialogue and songs were especially entertaining.

The two lead actors — Stockton Myers and Sara Warr as Robbie and Julia, respectively — were solid, winning over our hearts by the end of the production. Jacob Beecher, Tyler Price and Ashlie Davenport also added quite a bit of humor with their strong character parts.

As I mentioned above, however, the standout aspect of the show was the choreography by Alexis Smith. It was one of the first things Cammie mentioned after the show.

Stockton Myers plays Robbie Hart, the title role in St. George Musical Theater’s production of “The Wedding Singer.”

"The Wedding Singer" now has me excited for other SGMT shows in the coming months. “Nuptials” is up next from March 3-26 and “My Fair Lady,” one of my favorites, runs from April 7-May 7.

“The Wedding Singer” will continue through Feb. 20 at the St. George Opera House, 212 N. Main St. Tickets are $17-$21. Visit sgmusicaltheater.com or call 435-628-8755 for information.

Email Brian at brian@thespectrum.com and follow him on Facebook.com/PasseyBrian or on Twitter and Instagram, @BrianPassey. Call him at 435-674-6296.

Stockton Myers, top, plays Robbie Hart, the title role in St. George Musical Theater’s production of “The Wedding Singer.”

Tempting: A glimpse of arts events for the coming week that are tempting me.

DOCUTAH will screen “The Wrecking Crew,” a documentary about a group of studio musicians who backed up a host of major names in the 1960s and 1970s, at 7 p.m. Friday at The Electric Theater in St. George. Tickets are $5 at the door.

The Filharmonic, a California-based a cappella group, will perform for Southern Utah University students at 8 p.m. Friday at the SUU Auditorium. Students get the first seats at the free concert but the public is welcome if there are remaining seats after the concert starts.

Artist/musician Carlyle Potter’s “Jazz As Art As Jazz” exhibit opening at the DiFiore Center in St. George. It will open Saturday night with a private jam session.

St. George Musical Theater’s production of “The Wedding Singer” continues at the St. George Opera House through Feb. 20.

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