My, my, how can you resist it?
That's what Bert Church High School's drama students will be asking audience members when they take to the stage for their upcoming production of the renowned Broadway musical, Mamma Mia!
Kevin Goodyear, the drama teacher at the east Airdrie-based high school, said the May production will feature a cast of approximately 40 Bert Church drama students from grades 9 to 12, in addition to a backstage crew of roughly a dozen people.
While the play is not scheduled until May, he added auditions were completed earlier this term and rehearsals are already in full swing.
“I’m really happy with how things are progressing and how fast the students are picking things up,” he said.
Bert Church's version of the play will follow the original script of the Broadway musical, which a 2008 film adaptation of the same name is based on.
Set on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi, Mamma Mia! follows the story of bride Sophie Sheridan, who attempts to find out which of her mother's three former suitors is her biological father by secretly inviting all three to her impending wedding.
The Broadway musical – and the 2008 film starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, and Pierce Brosnan – is famously set to a soundtrack comprised exclusively of hit songs by ABBA, the Swedish pop group made famous in the 1970s.
“The singing and dancing is ridiculous,” Goodyear said. “I think there are 28 songs in the show. It’s by far the most music-heavy show I’ve ever done.”
Bert Church's rendition will star students Brooklyn Barclay and Mya Rockwell, who will share the lead role of Sophie, and Maddy Belle and Bentley Dickerson, who will share the role of Sophie's mother, Donna.
Considering the many song-and-dance numbers the play features, Goodyear acknowledged Mamma Mia! is an ambitious project for Bert Church's drama program, but the students are eager to tackle it, and have been taking the rehearsals in stride.
In fact, he said it was the students who insisted on doing the musical.
“I was like, ‘I didn’t know you guys wanted to do Mamma Mia! because some of you would have to be each other’s mom or dad,’” he said “I didn’t think that would be very appealing, but they were like, ‘Please, we want to do Mamma Mia!’ We’ve been having a blast with it so far.”
Regarding the rehearsals, Goodyear said he has been very impressed with the show's choreography, led by Morgan Cox.
“It looks so good,” he said. “I’m so happy with how dance-y the show is, especially because it’s the musical of the Dancing Queen.”
According to Goodyear, this will be Bert Church drama department's first full-capacity show since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic over two years ago. The school mounted a video-recorded production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last spring, but it was performed in an empty theatre. The school's December 2021 Christmas production A Winter's Gift was performed in front of a reduced capacity of 130 people.
Mamma Mia! will run four show times – May 11 to 13 at 7 p.m. and May 14 at 12:30 p.m. – at Bert Church LIVE Theatre. Tickets cost $15 for regular admission and $10 for students and seniors, and are available for purchase at tickets.airdrie.ca
Goodyear recommends buying tickets early, as seating is pre-assigned and the shows can sell out quite quickly.
“Especially with Mamma Mia! being a pretty big name, I know it will sell pretty well,” he said.
