SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - The Penn State Schuylkill Nittany Players are taking the community back to the 1980s with its upcoming theatre production of "The Wedding Singer."
This musical will be held at 7 p.m. on April 10, 11 and 12, with a matinee performance at 2 p.m. April 13.
All shows will be in the John E. Morgan Auditorium at the campus.
Cathy Fiorillo, assistant professor of theater and speech at Penn State Schuylkill and director of the production, said that this is the first year a show is strictly for adults with a PG-13 rating, when in the past they have been child friendly, such as "Willy Wonka" last year.
"This year is our 80th anniversary celebration, and 'The Wedding Singer' takes place in the '80s so it was the perfect show to celebrate and we tied that in together," Fiorillo said. "After the Friday night show, we will have a celebration with a giant wedding cake and 'Skookie' cookies to celebrate the 80th anniversary."
According to Music Theatre International, a theatrical licensing agency that gives schools and other theatres the right to perform Broadway and beyond, " 'The Wedding Singer' takes us back to a time when hair was big, greed was good, collars were up and a wedding singer might just be the coolest guy in the room."
The musical takes place in 1985 where rock-star wannabe Robbie Hart is New Jersey's favorite wedding singer and is the life of the party until his own fiancee leaves him at the altar.
Shot through the heart, Robbie makes every wedding as disastrous as his own and eventually meets Julia Sullivan, a winsome waitress who wins his affection. As luck would have it, Julia is about to be married to a Wall Street shark, and, unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a decade, the girl of his dreams will be gone forever.
"It is based on the movie with Adam Sandler," Fiorillo said. "Not many people do it, but it was a fun show for our students to do."
Playing the role of Robbie Hart is student Nick Pothering who said he found out he loved acting last year when he was a student at Minersville Area High School and was in the musical "South Pacific."
He also said that he believes people will enjoy the show this year.
"It's more focused on a mature age group and that makes it funnier," Pothering said. "A lot of entertainment these days, it's not rated PG-13."
Brianna Jenkins, a pre-medicine major, is playing the role of Julia Sullivan.
Although she's playing a lead role, she actually auditioned for a smaller part.
"I went to a performing arts high school, so I pretty much did this most of my life," she said. "I'm typically a dancer, but I've always sung and danced."
Jenkins said that, for her, the musical has been a relief from the stresses of classes like biology and chemistry.
"I think it will be something more for the adults when typically they do things that are more family-oriented," Jenkins said. "For older adults, too, it's typical and they'll be able to relate. It's good to have something for the adults sometimes. You need to leave the kids home and enjoy things yourself. The students will enjoy it too because it's the '80s. They dress that way and it has love story undertones."
There are about 50 students total in the production from both inside and outside Schuylkill County.
Fiorillo said that Nittany Players is a class as well as a club, and the students in it had to audition in the fall. The class began during the spring semester. Once the show is over, the class is done for the semester.
Students get three credits for the class and participate either on stage or backstage.
This is also the first show in the newly renovated theater space that has six new "intelligent lights," as well as new seating, flooring, sound that was bought with money received from the Morgan Foundation.
The production is open to the public.
Tickets may be purchased by calling the Penn State Schuylkill box office at 570-385-6049 or in the Student Community Center lobby from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Those wishing to attend are advised purchase tickets in advance as some shows may sell out.