After two years of an empty auditorium, Laura Secord is two weeks away from opening their long awaited production of Mamma Mia! This musical was set to go on stage in March of 2020, but was forced to shut down due to the pandemic. Now, the reinvented production is set to take place during May 5th-14th, 2022 with a new cast, but the same fun, energetic spirit.
Mamma Mia! tells the story of a mother, Donna, and her daughter, Sophie. Donna runs a hotel in the Greek islands and is currently preparing for her daughter’s big white wedding. Meanwhile, Sophie has secretly invited three men from her mother’s past to the wedding, in hopes that one of them will be her real father. She wants nothing more than for her father to walk her down the aisle. Upon the three men’s arrival, Sophie has no clue which one is her father, and panic ensues as she gets closer and closer to her big day.
This jukebox musical is written by Catherine Johnson and is based on the songs of ABBA by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, including hits such as “Dancing Queen”, “Lay All Your Love On Me”, “SOS”, “Take a Chance on Me”, and of course, “Mamma Mia”.
The public gets to witness this beloved show on the stage with all of its finishing touches, but so much occurs behind the scenes to make this production possible. Our art students have carefully painted every paper mache rock, actors must work with their dressers to do quick changes in mere seconds, hair crew works tirelessly to make styles for all 25 cast members, and the cast have their own sacred rituals that they perform before show times.
It is safe to say that the most important part of the behind-the-scenes process is the directing of the show itself. Tracy Thorpe has directed the Laura Secord musicals on her own since 2010. She is thrilled to finally have an audience watch the production that we once thought would never happen. As a seasoned director and performer herself, Thorpe understands the importance of all the work that goes on backstage and the challenges of organizing all that happens behind the scenes. “The set is a beast, the walls are a pain. There’s a lot of set stuff coming on and off, that has been a huge challenge for sure. You forget that the backstage stuff is as important as the onstage stuff.” Having directed many musicals, Thorpe knows what it takes to be a good director and to lead a group of students through tiring rehearsals. “There’s a balance between being encouraging and lifting up and then being strict. I feel like I’ve got multiple personalities that have to come out at different times. Having the vision is also super hard. Coming up with the choreography, blocking, timing, lighting and set and all the things. But then, as a director, people are looking to me, and I’m having to find ways to get them to where they need to be while still honouring them, and then pushing them.” Despite the tremendous load of work, Thorpe is enjoying this process with this cast and is ready to be getting this show on its feet. “Getting to see two amazing groups of people perform it, and work with all these amazing kids and then see it finally come to fruition is probably the most gratifying part.”
The quick changes during live shows were tricky. Members of the costume crew had to perform under pressure for the actor to be ready in minutes and sometimes seconds. One person that had to deal with this was Sophie Hough. She was Hannah Jamal’s dresser and had to do three quick changes. “The one for me that was the hardest was the nightmare scene because I am the only one doing it and the head hair crew members were also there doing a quick hair change on Hannah, making sure she was all ready for the next scene. It's a one minute change; in live theater that isn’t a lot of time and is quite stressful”. Many stressful moments occur backstage, and problem solving as the performance goes on is a key part of being involved in the crews.
While the crew are mostly the people who occupy the backstage area, the actors also have some downtime before the thrill of going onstage. They have their own interesting rituals that are performed backstage. One secret that has been shared by Hannah Jamal, who plays Donna, is that the entire cast and crew went into the boys bathroom to do a “prayer”, consisting of holding hands in a circle. It may seem ridiculous, but customs like these are what make this experience memorable for everyone involved in a show. Sweet, collective backstage moments are just as magical as the moments they share on stage.
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