Deer Lakes singing, dancing to the strains of ABBA in ‘Mamma Mia’
Share this post:
Deer Lakes High School drama students are preparing to transport the audience to Greece with their performance of “Mamma Mia.”
The musical takes place in Greece and tells the story of Sophie and Donna. Sophie is getting married and wants her dad to walk her down the aisle, but has been only been raised by her single mom Donna. Sophie finds her mom’s old diary and realizes her dad could be one of three men. She gets all three to come to the wedding and the story goes from there. The musical is famous for its songs, which are all covers of ABBA songs.
This is the first year high schools were able to get the rights to the musical. About 40 students are participating in the musical, which runs April 12-14 in the school’s auditorium. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door. For presale tickets email dltheatrearts@deerlakes.net.
Senior Alyssa Keelin, 17, plays lead character Sophie while junior Carlina Cutuli, 16, plays Sophie’s mom Donna.
“I like how it’s very energetic,” Keelin says of the show. “It’s like nothing we’ve had before.”
Cutuli says she had to develop a more mature demeanor to play Donna which was something she’d never done before.
“She’s a very stressed mom,” she says of her character. “She’s kind of running around everywhere kind of frantically.”
Senior Noah Glaister, 18, has spent the past six months designing the set to make sure it matches the architecture and feeling of Greece.
“I looked it up online as soon as they announced it last year,” he says. “I was trying to recreate the aesthetic of the Greece buildings, like the colors, and try to recreate it on our stage.”
Glaister plans to go on and study theater design at Point Park University in the fall.
Matt Derby, director of the musical, says he thinks the audience will enjoy the energy the show brings brings. He expects a packed house for each of their four performances.
“I think what’s neat is how these kids connect to these ABBA songs that are 30, 40 years old,” he says. “The songs still feel so fresh and relevant today.”