ST. JACOBS – After more than two years of closures due to COVID, all the venues of Drayton Entertainment are opening up again with a slate of crowd favourites. The popular ABBA musical, Mamma Mia!, kicks off the season at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse and what a fun start to the season!
The story is simple – Donna Sheridan, a former member of a girl group called Donna & the Dynamos, lives on a small Greek island with her daughter Sophie as she struggles to run an inn. Sophie is getting married, but wants to know who her father is, something her mother never told her. After reading her mother’s diary, Sophie narrows it down to three possible men and invites them to her wedding. They arrive the day before the nuptials, thinking Donna invited them, and the next two days are filled with misunderstandings, forgiveness, romance, and, of course, lots of great ABBA music.
Donna is played by Blythe Wilson, a dynamo in her own right, and AJ Bridel plays the effusive Sophie. Their crystal-clear voices blend beautifully, like a real mother-daughter duo. Nicola Dawn Brook and Jackie Mustakas play Donna’s friends, and Mustakas gives the formidable Christine Baranski (who played the role in the popular movie) a run for her money. The three potential dads are Kyle Blair, Mark Harapiak and Stephen Sparks, with Vinnie Alberto in his first role with Drayton Entertainment as Sophie’s fiancé Sky.
The cast is rounded out by a company of talented singers and dancers, who had the audience foot-tapping and singing along. When the boys came out in swim fins and “tap-danced” to “Lay All Your Love On Me,” the audience was in stitches.
All the popular ABBA hits are here, sung with vivacious enthusiasm. Like the movie, there’s a post-show epilogue, as it were, where the entire cast comes out kitted head to toe in white and gold ‘70s-era ABBA outfits. Costume designer Rachel Berchtold captured the vibe perfectly.
Director and choreographer David Connelly did a fabulous job bringing Mamma Mia! to the St. Jacobs stage. The crowd was excited for the show and rewarded the ensemble with a standing ovation.
After the long, dark cloud of COVID closures and cancellations, Mamma Mia! was a burst of musical sunshine.
The show is so popular that another week was added, but tickets to those performances are running out quickly. There are a few random seats available on many nights, but if you want to sit with your companions, you should act quickly.
Coming up at the Drayton Festival Theatre from June 29-July 16 is Buying The Farm, a multi-generational romantic comedy about holding on to the family farm in spite of many challenges.
Mamma Mia! runs until July 16. Call the box office at 519-747-7788, toll-free at 1-855-drayton (372-9866) or online at draytonentertainment.com.
