The Clinton Area Showboat Theater is staging the musical comedy smash hit, The Wedding Singer, from Thursday, July 21 through Sunday, July 31. The show is based on the 1998 blockbuster film of the same name that starred Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and sent up everything hilarious about the ’80s.

Producing Artistic Director James Beaudry directs the production that stars Showboat favorite, Grant Alexander Brown, as Robbie Hart, the role made famous by Sandler. Daniel Gold, whose choreography for this summer’s Sister Act took audiences to heaven, returns to stage what promise to be some of the most stunning dances local audiences have ever seen, according to a Showboat release Tuesday.

The Wedding Singer tells the story of Robbie Hart, whose songs make everyone else’s wedding dreams come true. But after he’s stood up at the altar by his rock goddess fiance, he makes every wedding as disastrous as his own.

When a sweet waitress named Julia (played by Sydney Jaye) pulls him out of the dumps, Robbie is smitten. But Julia is engaged to a Wall Street stock broker, so Robbie must pull off the performance of the decade or lose his one chance at true love.

Beaudry says of the show, “The Wedding Singer is one of the best musicals of the last 20 years — updating the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ story to the ‘I Want My MTV’ world of 1985 New Jersey — with a thrilling and hilarious happy ending. The show is pure joy, and this production explodes off the stage with talent from our amazing cast and design team.” 

Joining Brown and Jaye in the cast are Sarah Juliet Shaw as Holly, Anthony James as Sammy, Benjamin Michael Hall as George, Noah Wohlsen as Glen, Katelyn Murphy as Linda, Lisa Crosby Wipperling as Angie, and area favorite Nancy Teerlinck as Robbie’s rapping grandma, Rosie. 

The Wedding Singer ensemble includes Hannah Asay, Tiffany Beckford, Jordan Drake, Kiara Durbin, Jaheim Hugan, Carter Jargo, Sarah Lewandowski, Megan Grace Ludwig, Dan Rice, Brian Selcik, and Hannah Zieser.

Tickets are available through the Showboat box office, at www.clintonshowboat.org, and by calling 563-242-6760. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday and Wednesday at 3 p.m. Adult tickets are only $25. Seniors are $22 and students are $18.

The World Goes ‘Round will complete the Showboat’s season, Aug. 4 through Aug. 14. The all song-and-dance musical revue of songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb includes Broadway hits from their shows like Chicago and Cabaret, as well as hit songs from the writing team like “New York, New York” and the title song.