by Nicola Brown

TALENTED Bankies are preparing to swap their day jobs to tread the boards in hit musical The Wedding Singer.

Eight Clydebank and Yoker residents will be among nearly 40 performers bringing the award-winning musical to life at Eastwood Park Theatre.

Set in 1985 the show will see musical theatre group, The Minerva Club, rewind to leg warmers, shoulder pads and huge hair, when rock star wannabe Robbie Hart is New Jersey’s favourite wedding singer.

When his own fiancée, Linda, dumps him at the altar Robbie decides to make every wedding he gigs as disastrous as his own. Can sweet-natured Julia and her cousin Holly lure Robbie back into the limelight? Or will she head off down the aisle with Wall Street bad boy Glen?

Katrina Butcher, 43, from Faifley, is cast as Julia’s mum Angie. The BAE Systems employee is no stranger to the Clydebank theatre scene, having played Jeanette in The Mummers’ 2014 production of the Full Monty and Mrs Potts in Clydebank Musical Society’s Beauty and the Beast in 2012.

She said of the Wedding Singer: “The show is full of great, catchy 80s music and I’m looking forward to the big 80s hair! Angie is a strong, fiery character with a big heart and who’s very proud of her daughter, so I was delighted to get the part and am looking forward to playing her.”

Fellow Bankie Paul McWilliams, 32, a claims administrator from Dalmuir, said he was thrilled to secure the role of Robbie’s bandmate Sammy in the show. He said: “It’s my first show with The Minerva Club and I’m loving it. The music is fantastic and it’s really fun. I love the film and was over the moon to get a principal part.”

Minerva Club President, Colette Dunsmore – herself a club member for 30 years – added: “The Wedding Singer is a new show that not many people will have seen before, and for anyone for whom the 80s is their era the music and costumes are just great. I’m really pleased with how rehearsals are going and would encourage anyone to come and see this fun-filled production.”

The Wedding Singer will be on at Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock, from Tuesday 8 November to Saturday 12 November. Tickets cost £13-£16 and are available from any cast member, by emailing tickets@theminervaclub.com or online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/147467.