Jennifer Godwin-Minto
ABBA’s pop hits filled Garland Theater this May as the Performing Arts Department put on its spring musical, “Mamma Mia!”
Set on a Greek island, “Mamma Mia!” tells the story of Sophie Sheridan’s wedding at the hotel run by her single mother, Donna. Sophie secretly invites three of her mother’s ex-boyfriends, one of whom she believes might be her biological father. However, complications ensue as Donna is forced to confront her past and Sophie struggles to determine which man is her father.
The production, attended by about 1200 people over the course of its six performances, consisted of 38 cast members.
“It was the biggest ensemble musical [that I’ve directed],” said Upper School Performing Arts Teacher Sam Robinson, the musical’s director.
Though past musicals have had lead roles double-cast, this year’s production was completely double-cast, meaning that every role had two actors who switched between their part and ensemble on alternating nights.
“Double-casting gave more opportunities for the students to have speaking parts and roles, which is fantastic. The majority of performers had roles that they were either speaking or singing in,” noted Robinson. He continued, “The challenge of that, though, is having to run through each of those numbers twice, with people sometimes playing ensemble and sometimes playing lead roles, so that was a puzzle.”
Middle and Upper School Performing Arts Teacher Eric Lifland ‘12, the musical director of the show, added, “Many audience members enjoyed seeing the show twice and getting entirely different experiences.”
The production consisted of 24 songs, in addition to reprises and dance numbers. Middle and Upper School Performing Arts Teacher Danielle Pigneri choreographed the show, with the help of student choreographer junior Sophie Chiu.
“The music of ABBA is just super fun to play and sing! These songs are generally pretty straight-forward pop songs,” explained Lifland, “For me, this makes them a bit easier than your typical musical theater song, which often has many twists and turns of tempo, key, and style. That said, it was still a ton of work on all of these songs to get the iconic ABBA style and sound just right.”
Junior Maddie Delbridge and freshman Annie Delbridge starred as Donna and Sophie, respectively, in one cast, with freshman Amira Shamsi and junior Anastasia Arrieta as their counterparts in the other cast.
“Sophie has always been my dream role,” shared Arrieta, “I’ve known Amira since she was going into eighth grade, and having her play my mom was kind of funny because she’s younger than me, but also it was a blessing because I’m so close to h
er and it was such a fun and unique experience to get to play that with someone that I’m so close to.”
Students in the Pit Orchestra elective, led by Middle and Upper School Performing Arts teacher and conductor Megan Foley, accompanied the actors with the show’s lively score.
“It was a vibrant performance and I loved seeing some of my closest friends singing and dancing,” said sophomore Madeline Bray, who attended opening night.