Directors Kristy Triantafilakis and Melanie Lavis have introduced some wonderful and clever innovations to this Trinity College production. To get the audience in the mood to be transported to a beautiful Greek isle, upon entering the auditorium, we are greeted by the young crew (Trinity students) of a cruise ship and given a boarding pass. The pre-show announcement and acknowledgement to Country keep this perception going. Plus the theatrical entrance of Donna’s two best friends, Tanya (Caitlin Bentley) and Rosie (Emily Tziros) keeps the idea of cruise passengers up (I just love it when the “fourth wall” is broken). One girl in the cast looks as if she had an accident sometime previously before the show went into production and now has to wear a moon boot. So the directors have used the concept of if you want to draw someone’s attention away from something, deliberately draw their attention to it and it will soon be unnoticeable: an explanation of why she has the moon boot on is worked into the script well and we soon forget all about it. A big problem in youth productions is: how do you make boys seem older than their contemporaries in a show without making them wear silly wigs or covering them with grey powder (it seems easier with girls)? The solution here is ingenious: the boys playing the three potential fathers, Connor Foreman (Sam), Rhys Young (Harry) and Michael Herewane (Bill) have all been given a streak of white, in various ways, to their natural hair colour. I must admit though that Rhys’ seems a little overdone though.
This “jukebox” musical weaves some of Swedish 70’s pop group ABBA’s famous hits (plus a couple of lesser known ones) with a fairly simple story line. Young Sophie has spent all her 20 years growing up with her mother, Donna, on the beautiful Greek island of Kalokairi. She is about to get married and longs for her father to give her away. There’s only one hitch: she has never met him and doesn’t know who he might be. Finding her mother’s diary from the year and period that she was likely to have been conceived, Sophie narrows it done to three likely contenders: Sam, an architect; Harry, a London banker; and Bill, an adventurer/explorer. She invites all three, without her mother’s knowledge, to the island and her wedding.
Last year this reviewer was blown away by Trinity’s production of “Bring It On”. I couldn’t wait to see if they could reach that extremely high bar again with this year’s production of “Mamma Mia!”. It certainly touches the bar but just misses out on going completely over due to a couple of slight technical faults. A couple of the vocals don’t quite reach the heights of the rest of the cast and the performers’ mics seem just a tad loud causing popping noises every now and then. These are very minor and are kinks that are probably due to nerves and should straighten themselves out during the run. However, there are some excellent points and highly theatrical innovations to this production that make it outstanding, and certainly more than a cut above the rather lack-lustre professional revival that toured here a few years ago.
Triantafilakis and Lavis make sure each and every one of the 43 cast are made good use of and have them dotting the stage effectively without ever pulling focus from the main action and never crowding the stage. This is an art not only for the directors but cast as well and all involved succeed admirably. The set designed by Wendy Todd is a star of the show in itself. There is a boathouse (complete with boat!) underneath a hotel room (which seems to have 400 secret entrances and exits), a rock bridge, a Greek taverna with the inside showing that patrons can wander in and out, and a landing dock. Set construction led by Ben Johnson must take a bow as well – I don’t think the strongest hurricane would knock the set down.
Music Director (Band) Emma Knights and her band – James Whiting, Deborah Brennan, Mr Jacob Morris, Will Hobbs, Ethan Fechner, Cameron Walker, Brandan Irawan, Sabrina Barlow, Mrs Bec Mason, Sophie Cridland, Dr Ken Heath and Mr Ali Cameron – are ‘banging’! The sound is crisp and clear and every note perfectly executed. Choreography by Miss Caley White is suitably 70s and ‘disco’y and brilliantly performed by all the young cast. The precision and timing from all is remarkable to watch. This is a highly drilled show when it comes to movement – most impressive.
As Sophie, Saffron Bradley is delightful with a nice strength of character showing and a beautiful voice. Her vocalising of “I Dreamed A Dream” is just lovely. As her groom to be, Sky, Matthew Nance does his best to liven up a role that isn’t that well written. Donna’s best friends and her ex-members of her old all-girl rock band, Tanya and and Rosie are played by Caitlin Bentley and Emily Tziros respectively. Caitlin is suitably ‘high maintenance” and performs “Does Your Mother Know” with Damian Brooks as Pepper nicely – and Boy! can Damian dance!!, whilst Emily steals the show from the very beginning with her hilarious monologue and the biggest travelling bags ever. Her English accent is great as well. Her duet with Bill (Michael Herewane), “Take A Chance on Me” is hilarious.
Rhys Young makes a nice prissy Harry and Michael Herewane is a great Harry Butler/Indiana Jones style explorer. Connor Foreman is quite impressive as architect Harry. His sensitivity and practicality shine through well and he has quite a remarkably strong voice for a young man. His vocals in “S.O.S.”, “Our Last Summer” and “Knowing Me, Knowing You” are particularly good.
Chloe Seabrook as Donna is sensational. She is immensely believable as a mother who has had to bring up a daughter on her own and has a ‘past’. Not an easy job for a young person who hasn’t lived life yet, but Chloe pulls it off with flair as she does with all her vocals. My favourite ABBA song is “The Winner Takes It All” and should be given its all: Chloe does just that with her stunning rendition! It’s says it all when an entire audience burst into applause during the very last sustained note of a song!
I think it says a lot about Trinity College and its students and staff when an absolutely full house give the production a well deserved standing ovation. Oh, and the Encore is well worth the price of admission on its own – Well done to Costume Designer Mrs Angela Girgolas.
