SPARTA - All it takes is once - the first baseball game, or museum visit, or Broadway play - and the dreams and aspirations of a lifetime are fashioned. So it was for Cara Cooper of Sparta when, at the age of 12, she went to see Guys and Dolls in New York City. “I remember I was crying, knowing that this is what I want to do all my life,” she recalled recently. Her dream will be fulfilled when she appears in the new musical, The Wedding Singer, with music by Matthew Sklar and lyrics by Chad Beguelin, based on the highly successful Adam Sandler movie, opening on Broadway next month. A 1997 graduate of Sparta High School, Cooper has been a lifetime resident of Sparta, as is her mother and her family before her. She has been dancing since age seven and has taken part in many dance competitions. She participated in productions all four of her years at Sparta High, as Nellie in South Pacific, Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, as a doo wop girl in Little Shop of Horrors, and in three straight plays, one a British comedy with much physical comedy she especially enjoyed. Cooper credits her high school teachers, Bailey Davis and Lucille Guarino, for supporting her interest in theater. After high school she attended the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in Manhattan, earning a degree in drama with focus in musical theater. Currently in rehearsals of The Wedding Singer, Cooper said, “I think it has great heart, a message and is very entertaining at the same time. “It’s such a sweet story about two people finding each other,” she continued. “It’s set in the 80s, a time of political and cultural conflict. Within the craziness, these two people find love in a relationship that everybody dreams of.” The show played out of town in Seattle and received good reviews, but Cooper said many changes were made when they returned to New York. Cooper has appeared in national touring companies of 42nd Street and Tommy. She said touring is “tough, but it’s a great way to see the country and meet many people.” She has previous Broadway experience, having appeared in Urban Cowboy and All Shook Up, a show in which she also understudied the part of Natalie. As such she had the opportunity to go on many times, but her dream is to do a principal role “from the get-go.” Her mother, Mary, still a Sparta resident, and her father, Clint, who lives in Kinnelon, are both supportive of her ambitions. “I think they love it as much as I do,” she said. She also counts television work in her resume having appeared on the “Guiding Light.” When asked what here favorite role or play is, Cooper said, “It’s hard to say. I find something new in every show. It would be like trying to pick a favorite child; I would have a hard time picking one.” In addition to being in the ensemble, Cooper will understudy Holly, a principal character in The Wedding Singer, which opens April 27 at the Hirschfeld Theater, 302 West 45th St., in the heart of the Broadway theater district.