Sadie Jones comments on off stage friendships

“I think out of all the shows I’ve done at Park Theater this is the show where I think I have been able to connect with the most people.”

Sadie Jones, Park High senior and musical lead

Playing now through April 30 at Park High, readers can find out more about Mamma Mia (including the chance to buy tickets) by heading over to parkwolfpack.org/theater.

Now through April 30, fans of Park Theater will be able to see performances of Mamma Mia! —the musical—at Park High.

Set at the turn of the twentieth century, the play follows the story of Donna, a hotel owner in Greece who used to be lead singer with Donna and the Dynamos, a singing trio that played on the Greek mainland. Tanya and Rosie had gone home when the music ended, while Donna stayed behind to raise daughter Sophie and run a taverna after unexpectedly falling pregnant out of wedlock, unable to return home in an era of shame for such things.

The musical thus opens with daughter Sophie aged 20, about to get married but still in search of her father. In turn, Sophie reads her mom’s diary from the year before she (Sophie) was born and invites three men from her mother’s past (Sam, Bill, and Harry) who she thinks might be the absent father she needs to walk her down the aisle.

Each of the three accepting in Sophie’s invitation to visit thinking that it came from Donna, things don’t go quite according to Sophie’s plans.

Nonetheless they work out, as intergenerational memories, both the wounds and happy times, play out alike on the open stage, resolved in time for the show’s musical number ending. Mamma Mia musical cast members and directors (student and non-student) sat down before the show last Saturday at Park High to give insight into what they thought the musical was ultimately about.

“Some of the key aspects of it that we talked about are family, and the celebration of family,” Park High senior and musical lead Sadie Jones (Donna) said of the musical’s subject matter. Fellow Park senior Finegan Barrett (Sam) agreed.

“Very much so with the family situation,” Barrett said. “I feel like every single character has some connection to each other. Not just the characters, but the cast too.” With not all relationships defined in the script this played into another aspect of the musical: working out character relationships.

“So, if a relationship between two characters is not defined, they defined it themselves,” Jones shared of the musical performance and its dynamics. “Each character trying to find themselves.”

One example of this is Harry (Sam Storm), a free spirit turned family man devoted to his work, who comes to show he still has some spontaneous part of self.

Another is Bill (Nathan Kinney), born in America but prone to wander and travel. Arriving like Harry and Sam at what he thinks is Donna’s invitation (but actually Sophi’s), Bill is the first to warm to the idea that he might be Sophi’s dad, agreeing to walk her down the aisle. When Sam and Harry do the same, Sophi changes course and asks her mother Donna to do the honors, having created an unintentional nightmare for herself.

Donna, meanwhile, aware of and somewhat surprised of the three men’s arrival at her taverna before realizing just why they’re present, has to wrestle with her past and what to do about it. With an intermission between arrival of the three dads and Sophi’s wedding, the lights turn back low and suspense builds. Connections are nevertheless strong, as Barrett explains of his character Sam and the other two potential father figures.

“When it comes down to connections, even when the dads are vying with each other, they become friends really quick,” he said, giving as another example the working of technical crew members into musical dress to blend in as they move props and other stage details, usually wearing black in other shows. Student director Gabbi Becker shared her thoughts on the play as well.

“You don’t have to go through your problems yourself,” she said, tying into how Sophi tried to find her dad without asking Donna and yet things work out, in the end. “Very high energy, vibrant,” Becker shared of the musical and its vibe. Non-student director Quinn Masterson also shared some thoughts.

“Dancing Queen is usually just the three dynamos, but we made it a fully female presenting number,” Masterton said. Lead actress Jones offered one last insight into the musical and its dynamic with a comment on off stage friendship building.

“I think out of all the shows I’ve done at Park Theater this is the show where I think I have been able to connect with the most people,” she said. Playing now through April 30 at Park High, readers can find out more about Mamma Mia (including the chance to buy tickets) by heading over to parkwolfpack.org/theater.