‘Mamma Mia!’ hits an emotional high note for Blind Brook High School thespians
March 7, 2024 at 12:59 a.m.
Christina Colangelo was initially hesitant about “Mamma Mia!”
As the longstanding Blind Brook High School Drama Club director and producer, she typically wants to guide students through a tangible emotion or lesson when they put on a musical, and she just wasn’t seeing it in the show.
Girls in the cast and crew boogie down to sing “Mamma Mia!” during a remix at the end of the show.By Sarah Wolpoff
“I was thinking, it’s this jukebox musical and there’s not a lot of meat, especially coming off of ‘Something Rotten,’ which was so dense in terms of script and character,” she said, referring to the club’s 2023 spring showcase. “But then, I found my in.”
“Mamma Mia!” doesn’t take much explanation—it’s a well-known musical and 2008 movie starring Meryl Streep, featuring the iconic tunes of ‘70s era pop group ABBA. Set on a small Greek island, the show follows a soon-to-be bride Sophie, who had secretly invited three men to her wedding, each of whom had the potential to be the father she never knew. Donna, the mother who manages a hotel on the island, is not happy about the surprise visits, though they ultimately lead to a romantic reunion with one of the men.
As a special treat at the end of the show, current and former Blind Brook faculty take to the stage to perform some classic ABBA hits with the students. Among the 11 are Ridge Street School Principal Tracy Taylor (left) and retired high school teachers Charlene Decker and Michele Sugantino.By Sarah Wolpoff
While the story is set around romance and weddings, it’s really about the relationships—friendships among women and the bond between Sophie and Donna as the daughter grows into independence, ultimately leaves her home to travel the world and comes to terms with whether knowing her father is important after all (spoiler alert: it’s not).
“It’s a story about a mother and daughter growing up, growing apart, going away and coming together. And I mean, I have a daughter; I felt strongly connected to that piece of it,” Colangelo said, referring to Samantha, her rising 13-year-old finding her own independence. “I very much wanted to make that the focus of the story and focus on that relationship and the complications and the love.”
Over the last week few weeks, the cast and crew of Blind Brook High School’s “Mamma Mia!” have gotten increasingly excited about their upcoming production, which hits the stage on Thursday, Mar. 7, and will run through Saturday, Mar. 9.
They’re eager, largely, because the community is feeding them that energy—a lot of people want to see the beloved show; it has been well received.
“The energy surrounding this is crazy,” said Abby Meron, the junior starring as Donna. “Everyone’s so excited, everyone knows the music, so all of us are really dedicated to it. We’re just really exited and we’re putting all of ourselves into it, so we know it’s going to be a good show.”
Following the Drama Club’s fall production of “Radium Girls,” the spring musical keeps with a theme of the year: female empowerment. The director said that was intentional. The thespians are telling the stories of everyday women, and while the men in the show are also important, they don’t define their identities.
Like Colangelo, senior Hunter Greenspan also wasn’t sure how he felt about “Mamma Mia!” at first, because the Drama Club had already done a typical jukebox musical two years ago when they put on “Footloose.”
Sam (played by Hunter Greenspan) proposes to his long-lost love Donna (played by Abby Meron).By Sarah Wolpoff
“But now I’m really happy we did it because ABBA’s music, it’s tough. It’s complicated,” said Greenspan, who plays Sam in the show, noting that it’s the harmonies and robustness of the sound that’s been a challenge to conquer. “They’re very talented musicians, so it’s not like we’re just singing pop songs. From my perspective, I think it’s the perfect mix of complexity and popularity.”
“Especially as high school kids, doing something as complicated as this, it’s not easy,” added Will Jaffee, a senior playing the potential father Bill. “The time we’ve spent just doing music rehearsal is a lot.”
The style of music wasn’t the only intricacy for the students to master. The behind-the-scenes high schoolers who worked on the set and serve as stage crew, “the techies,” also felt “Mamma Mia!” has been one of their greatest challenges yet.
Rachel Coffey, a senior, said the design was more elaborate than usual—they hand painted every stone, texturized the walls, and built pieces that have multiple levels to utilize.
“It’s cool to see how it starts off so small and then all of a sudden it all comes together, and we have a full taverna and full set,” said senior crew member Veronica Pallotta.
“Especially during tech week when the lights are getting set and the actors are up on stage, you can see all of our work showing,” added Zac Rosenblatt, also a senior.
When done correctly, “Mamma Mia!” has the ideal mix of being “fun and funny, but also meaningful and pulling at your heartstrings,” said Cassidy Wohl, who plays Sophie. But as Meron described, the rollercoaster of emotions embedded in the script of the seemingly light musical is also difficult to navigate, given the nature of the show.
There isn’t much talking—the music to dialog ratio skews heavily to the prior.
Finding peace with the past and feeling ready to head into the future, Sophie (played by Cassidy Wohl) sings “I have a Dream” while her boyfriend Sky (played by Pablo Zeitune) wraps his arms around her.By Sarah Wolpoff
“It becomes a question then of how do you develop these characters who go through such a big development and change from the beginning to the end when there aren’t many scenes,” Meron said. “How do you translate these shifts without speaking much?”
As Sophie walks away to leave Greece and travel the world, Donna (played by Abby Meron) watches longingly as a young version of her daughter (played by 7-year-old Annie Dore) stands on the balcony and waves.By Sarah Wolpoff
“We worked so hard at that,” added Madilyn Klein, a senior playing Donna’s best friend Rosie. “I think that’s what life is, going through shifts.”
Colangelo was hoping students would embrace the emotional depth of the scripted relationships as they studied the musical.
“Something can be super fun and seemingly shallow, but there’s always something you can learn,” she said of the lesson she’s teaching. “There’s always a message, a takeaway, an exploration of the human condition, love and life. There’s always something you can learn.”
While for her “Mamma Mia!” has made her think of her own daughter, she also feels for the parents coming to watch their seniors perform, who are likely to empathize with messaging about growing independent and saying goodbye as well. And that’s not a sentiment lost on the thespians.
A senior portraying Father Alexandrios in the show, Daniel Greenspan said, “Mamma Mia!” is about the inevitable shifting of family relationships as children age.
“I’ve kind of applied that to my own life,” he said. “I’m going to college soon, and I think it’s nice to see Sophie’s journey of her relationship with her mother grow throughout the show, even though she’s becoming more independent. They still come together in the end and accept each other for who they are. I just like how it shows the relationships with the family members and how they may change.”
“It hits hard in that literal sense of we’re going to college, we’re going to have to leave our parents and everything we know,” said Ana Savitt, the show’s assistant director who also plays an ensemble role. “Sophie grew up on this isolated island and, I mean, Rye Brook’s small. It’s kind of the same feeling of you’re leaving what you’re familiar with.”
And, like Sophie, as the seniors prepare to leave, they’re also stepping into a journey of identity. To Hunter Greenspan, that’s what resonates about the show. It’s a pressing moment for them, he said, as they reflect on their high school years and learn what to take with them as they figure out who they are in college.
Jaffee said theater has been a big part of that reflection, as he plans to study music production next year.
“When we did musicals, I always enjoyed learning about the music and how it sounds, and when I go to college, I’m going to find out who I am as a musician and a performer,” he said. “How Sophie is finding herself in this storyline, I’ll be finding myself through the music.”
But beyond anything else, “Mamma Mia!” is about relationships, which everyone in the production feels, especially the seniors. Wohl said Meron is her best friend, so when she says goodbye to her mother on stage, she’s also speaking to her companion off stage.
Cherishing the women’s journey, the male stars of “Mamma Mia!” Bill (left), Sam, Harry and Sky (played by Will Jaffee, Hunter Greenspan, Josh Fitzpatrick and Pablo Zeitune) cheer on the ladies above Rosie (left), Donna, Sophie and Tanya (played by Madilyn Klein, Abby Meron, Cassidy Wohl and Toby Grossberg).By Sarah Wolpoff
“I’m doing this show with my best friends, and they’re playing my best friends in the show,” Meron said. It’s a natural fit, and the cast thinks the chemistry radiates.
From Thursday through Saturday, “Mamma Mia!” will take to the Blind Brook High School stage at 7 p.m. every night, with an additional 1 p.m. showing on Saturday, Mar. 9. Orchestra and balcony seats are $15 and $18 respectively and can be purchased by searching “Blind Brook” at www.showtix4u.com.
If available, tickets can also be purchased at the door an hour before showtime.
Hugging Bill (played by Will Jaffee) while Harry (played by Josh Fitzpatrick) watches, Sophie (played by Cassidy Wohl) says goodbye to her prospective fathers.By Sarah Wolpoff
Comments:
You must login to comment.