DELAND, Fla. -- We admit it. Most of us in the newsroom had no idea that "The Wedding Singer" was turned into a musical.

  • "The Wedding Singer" now at Athens Theatre
  • Musical features 26 cast members, 19 numbers
  • Runs through August 12

That happened 12 years ago.

Now, for the first time ever, it's playing at the Athens Theatre in DeLand.

"Julia, why don't you walk through the scene a little bit with me," director Craig Uppercue said to his leading lady, Grace Boynton.

Boynton is a UCF student portraying Julia Sullivan, a character Drew Barrymore played in the 1998 film.

"I tried to mesh the Julia in the Broadway cast and the Julia in the movie," Boynton said.

Georgia Tech graduate Pat Clark plays Adam Sandler's role.

"I actually try to avoid doing an Adam Sandler impression in any way," Clark said. "The closest that I get to it is actually one of the songs from the movie, "Somebody Kill Me," where he's singing what sounds like a happy, hopeful song and then it turns into a hateful, breakup song."

The musical has 26 cast members -- all local -- and 19 numbers.

"[The musical] added a whole bunch of new numbers that are really fun and each one of them invokes an 80s-style of music," Clark said.

"It's extremely campy," Boynton added. "It's just a lighthearted, feel good, everyone-can-relate-to story."

"The Wedding Singer" runs through August 12 at the Athens Theatre.