MARSHALL, Mich. — The Franke Center’s Youth Theater and Marshall High School have announced that they are partnering for a production of Mamma Mia!. The musical will be performed May 18-21 at The Franke Center for the Arts.
The Thursday-Saturday performances will be held at 7 p.m. On Sunday, the musical will be performed at 2:30 p.m.
Mamma Mia! is set on a Greek island, and follows Sophie (Lucy Gensch). On the eve of her wedding, Sophie goes on a quest to discover the identity of her father. This leads to her bringing three men from her mother’s past back to the island that they visited 20 years ago. The three men are Sam (Stephen Klepper), Harry (Remee Morse), and Bill (Paul Butterfield).
The production also stars Natalie Traynor as Donna, Nova Schnitzler as Tanya, Alaina Stafford as Rosie, Shannon Barba as Sky, Whitney Ivey as Lisa, Elliana Ebner as Ali, Shane Klepper as Pepper, Jack Tekiele as Eddie, and Gunnar Ousley as Father Alexandrios. The musical also features Bella Albarron, Makayla Bailey, Luke Bierbaum, Mary Claire Davis, Camille DeCola, Noah French, Ciara Funk, Frank Giesen, Lucy Giesen, Olive Parham, Andrew Root, Kayla Smith, Luca Sullivan, Aubrey Tarkiewicz, Angel Warner, and Leia Young.
Isaiah Potter is the advising director of the production, and Bella Rupp is the assistant director.
“After years of being onstage, it has been such an honor having the opportunity to assistant direct Mamma Mia! and Newsies as a sophomore at Marshall High School,” said Rupp. “I look forward to sharing this amazing cast with the audience! ‘You will dance, you will jive, you will have the time of your life!’”
“Being part of both the Franke and the Marshall High School Theater programs growing up, it’s truly a beautiful thing seeing them partner to continue bringing theater to our kids and showing others how fun it really can be,” said Potter. “I love bringing my worlds together, this is one of those times. I love being part of such a passionate and driven team and Mamma Mia! is going to be a blast to watch!”
Mamma Mia! was written by Catherine Johnson and features music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The original Broadway production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on October 18, 2001. It went on to be nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
A film adaptation of Mamma Mia! was released in 2008. The film was directed by Phyllida Lloyd and stars Amanda Seyfried as Sophie, Pierce Brosnan as Sam, Colin Firth as Harry, and Stellan Skarsgård as Bill. A sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, was released in 2018.
Mamma Mia! will be performed at The Franke Center for the Arts May 18-21. Tickets can be purchased on The Franke Center’s website.
