Mamma Mia! New show rocks
Sell-out shows as Mamma Mia! wows Taupo¯ audience
Sell-out shows three weeks before opening night suggested that the Taupo¯ community had high expectations for Centre Stage Taupo¯ ’s latest production, the Tall Poppy season of the musical Mamma Mia!.
The show opened at the Great Lake Centre last Saturday and runs until this Saturday night, with a cast of 33 and a crew of many more, including a band and backing singers.
With so many moving parts and a well-known story and music,
Mamma Mia! is an ambitious production, but Centre Stage has already shown it has form with its successful production of the musical
Jesus Christ Superstar in 2018.
And from the first rollicking number, Honey Honey, to the lumpin-the-throat-inducing Slipping Through My Fingers, the cast showed they had the singing, dancing and acting chops to pull this one off too.
While from the outside it may look easy, not only are many of the songs tricky to sing, the show has to be held together by great music and strong acting between the musical numbers. In addition, the leads and the 21 extras have to dance their way through 24 songs, some with very challenging choreography (flippers, anyone?), which is pulled off flawlessly.
With such a strong cast it’s hard to single anybody out too much, but standing ovations must go to all the main leads, particularly Giselle (Donna) Clements, who won thunderous applause for her rendition of The Winner Takes It All and whose lovely voice also harmonised beautifully with Stephen (Sam) Ross’ in their duet SOS. Pam Seymour’s comic turn as Tanya almost stole the show and seeing Year 13 student Joseph Sutherland playing (and performing some very tricky moves) as Pepper the barman makes you understand why the NZ Young Shakespeare Company selected the aspiring young actor to go to the Globe Theatre in London next year.
The whole thing wound up with a rollicking, sparkling finale that had the audience clapping, singing and in some cases dancing to end the show on a high. It showed that the faith of director Sharon Shanks and the
ticket-buying public that there was enough talent in Taupo¯ for Centre Stage to put on a top-notch Mamma Mia! had been fully justified.