CULTURE GECKO
Saskatoon Summer Players Offers a Real Life Love Story Amidst High Energy The Wedding Singer Musical
By Ezekiel McAdams
November 12 2025
Saskatoon Summer Players newest production is an adaptation of The Wedding Singer musical, based on the 1998 movie of the same name.
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What makes this iteration and production unique is that the actors starring as the two leads are newlyweds in real life. Jory Fidler-Jukes and Riel-Fidler-Jukes married in September 2025.
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Saskatoon Summer Players' The Wedding Singer runs from November 13-16th 2025 at The Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
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The production stars Jory Fidler-Jukes, Riel Fidler-Jukes, Andrew L. Lindsay, Winslorbless Lumpas, Aron L’Oste-Brown, Amy-Leigh Thiessen, Rob Armstrong, and Carol Wylie in the main cast. There is an additional ensemble as well.
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The musical’s book is written by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy and lyrics by Matthew Sklar. Herlihy was the film’s original writer.
Braden Moore is the director, Tommy Vaquer as music director, Kylen Rioux as vocal director, Meghan Crosby as choreographer.
Jory Fidler-Jukes works as a wildlife biologist in the environmental consulting field while his wife, Riel, has degrees in both biology and education. She currently works at the Metis National Council in administration.
The couple met in university while attending University of Saskatchewan (UofS).
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Of the two, it was Jory who was more familiar in community theatre. His father acted in local community theatre productions. “My dad was an actor who did plays pretty much annually every spring at a small town rec centre, a couple hours from where I grew up. I remember every year in the spring and we’d go out and have dinner, then watch my dad’s play afterwards. I always knew I wanted to do something like that. And then my mum was a music teacher before she retired, so I’ve had both the acting and music spheres around my life since I was a young kid.” Jukes said.
Jukes continued acting through high school then made his debut with Saskatoon Summer Players with their production of The Addams Family in fall of 2020. This production was virtual due to the COVID pandemic.
While Riel always loved acting, she was more hesitant then her husband growing up, being more trepadatious appearing on stage in front of an audience. “My mum tells me that I was about three that I would do the straw man impression watching Wizard of Oz. I actually have performance anxiety which is hilarious considering that I enjoy doing these shows. I didn’t realize I really enjoyed doing until I met Jory.” She said.
With her husband’s encouragement, Riel took voice lessons, joined chorus groups, Acoustic Theory and Prism Chorus and then started auditioning for SSP shows. Riel got roles in 9 to 5 and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.. “He constantly is reassuring and bolsters me when I need it. He even gives a lot of notes which is great because we have that kind of relationship that he can be more honest with me than anyone else.” Riel Fidler-Jukes said.
This support has helped Riel become more confident on stage. “I’m finding even in this performance as much as I’m nervous, I’m more excited than anxious going on stage.”
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Despite the movie’s popular and iconic status, the leads and director were either unfamiliar with the source material or preferred the musical version. “I had seen it when I was younger but I’m actually not a big Adam Sandler fan. I like the musical.” Moore said.
The couple discussed their initial impression after the musical was announced. “I actually had no clue what the musical or even the movie were about, before the audition call went out in the summer. This is really bad of me, I didn’t actually watch the movie until we were cast in the show. I heard of it, I just never paid attention to it. I was coming back from a work trip, a field program and I listened to the music track of the musical and fell in love with it immediately and said to myself ‘If I don’t put my name in for this show, I will probably regret it.” Jukes said. “I knew it was a movie, I knew it had Adam Sandler that was the extent of it. Actually after we got cast, we watched The Wedding Singer with my mum. I told my brother about it and he was like ‘Omg I love that movie, I have to see this.’ So I think it’s going to pull a lot of people who don’t usually see shows into the theatre.” Riel Fidler-Jukes added.
Whereas Moore, the director, really resonated with the musical numbers and was excited about the opportunity to direct the production. “Often times when they take these movies and turn them into musicals, unless they’re doing a jukebox musical, they rewrite a bunch of the music because otherwise they have to license all of the songs in that movie. They would have to license “Jesse’s Girl and” “Love is a Battlefield” The musical keeps the two best songs written by Adam Sandler and rewrites the rest. They are so well written, funny, catchy and really of the time period. Moore said.
The rehearsal process has been an interesting process for both the leads and the director.
Moore previous directed The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals in April 2025. The debut production comes from Moore’s company Luminaire Theatre Works.
For Moore, this production differs from previous directing credits. “This is the biggest theatre in terms of audience and stage size that I’ve directed in. Like the last show I directed was comedy and horror, whereas obviously there’s comedy in The Wedding Singer. But it’s a genuine show, the actors are not caricatures. I’m not looking for a leading man who’s a Disney prince or a leading woman who’s a damsel in distress. I’m looking for genuine authenticity in character and acting, which is sometimes harder to get.” Moore said.
The couple has been grateful that they have each other to play off but both stated that it has been a struggle to differentiate both their real life and on screen personas. “It definitely is more double edged then people would think. I don’t mean that in a bad way necessarily. The interactions between the characters, the familiarity on stage, the intimacy is much easier because that is us, that’s our lives. It’s actually difficult reaming professional, in that setting because we have such familiarity with each other. We’re goofing around all the time being ourselves. It’s also hard to track on stage when we have to be Robbie and Julia, our characters and this isn’t Jory and Riel. It’s very nice having that familiarity on stage and I can’t say this process would be any more amazing then it is working with Riel.” Jukes said.
The couple even brought their script on their honeymoon as they were missing a week and a half of rehearsals.”I really hope we can look back on this, we’re eventually going have children and I hope they can look back and think its super cool that their mum and dad got to have this experience together.” Riel-Fidler Jukes added.
The rehearsal process was made easier because of the community support of SSP that feels like a family. “It really is such a close and tight knight family that is always accepting when new people come and join the team and our process. Most of my best friends now come from this theatre community and SSP it allows everyone to be as free and expressive and creative on stage as they want with a complete and safe environment to do so.” Jukes said with Riel adding “I definitely think that when you come into SSP, there’s a person for you, that for a lack of better word, you will vibe with. There’s someone for everyone.”
While the fall production is not as massive as their usual summer offerings, Rory commented how grateful he was for all the volunteer and community support. “We absolutely could not put this thing together without all of the volunteers. These productions our massive and I don’t think us and the cast really realize how much effort needs to go towards these shows. Our fall shows are a little smaller production wise but it takes dozens to a hundred people to put this thing together over months.”
Saskatoon Summer Players’ The Wedding Singer runs from November 13-16th 2025 at The Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Tickets can be bought online here or at the venue itself.
“Well they should absolutely expect the story that they know and love from the movie. That being said, we do get to put our own spin on it. There’s a lot of energy and joy that comes out of this. I just hope our passion for the stage and the show comes through for everyone.” Jory Fidler-Jukes said.