By Maggie Galvin, Wyoming Living Contributor | Photos by Rod Apfelbeck
On February 9, 10, and 11, Wyoming High School put on its first musical in four years: the heartwrenching celebration that is Mamma Mia!, a jukebox musical composed of ABBA songs. It balances wedding parties and bedroom breakdowns to tell the story of a mom and her daughter: Donna (Kendal Cawdrey) and Sophie (Addison Miller) Sheridan. After reading her mom’s diary, Sophie invites her three possible dads (Damon Cavitt, Ryan Emch, and Leo Seyerle) to her wedding, much to the chagrin of her mom and her fiance, Sky (Demarleon Wadley). The story follows love in many forms, from Sophie and Sky and their best friends (Ashley Emch, Devi Kool, Evan Jolly, and Vris Hossain), and Donna’s connection with both her “one-time backup band and all-time best friends” (Geneva Boss and Anna Zimmerly) and her ex-lovers.
Mamma Mia! was the first show at the high school since The Addams Family in 2020. It featured a live pit orchestra, made up of a mix of professionals (led by the wonderful Alan Masters) and student players (Seth Israel and Nate Eslinger) and a 15-person ensemble that filled the stage with depth. It was even directed by 2020 Wyoming graduate Annie Elliott, who returned to answer the prayers and dreams of the students at the high school, some of whom had never done a musical before. She handled her musical directorial debut with all the grace of someone who really gets it, and we were so lucky to have her step up to do this show for us. She also brought along a giant team of people to help us out, which really made the show feel like a whole community experience. Among those people were Wyoming alumni Jun Holubeck and Suzanne Barnes, who taught stage combat and set painting masterclasses, respectively, as well as generally helped out. Also in the team was Sara Potts, who led vocal rehearsals, and the dynamic duo that is Eric Bardes and Elizabeth Boland, who are professionals in sound and lighting design and have helped out many times before.
It was a joy to get to share the life changing experience that was this musical with the electric audience of 1400 people that visited the show over the three days, and it’s safe to say that we all still carry a bit of the music with us today. Theater is truly life changing, from the connections you make with your cast mates to the life lessons you learn onstage. So from the bottom of my heart and the hearts of everyone involved, I would like to give a loud, belted cheer: thank you for the music! Sung with perfect pitch, of course. We didn’t spend five months rehearsing for a wrong note.
Please enjoy our full photo gallery of the production below. All photos taken by Rod Apfelbeck.
Discover more from Livingmagazines.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Leave a Reply