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Finding family through the music of ABBA

SEHS presents \\\'Mamma Mia!\\\'

By Clay Schuldt 4 min read

SLEEPY EYE - Here we go again with a musical production of ‘Mamma Mia!’ courtesy of all the Dancing Queens at Sleepy Eye High School (SEHS).

Play performances are at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, and Saturday, Oct. 10, at Sleepy Eye High School auditorium, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11.

‘Mamma Mia!’ is a jukebox musical because every song featured in the musical is taken from a pre-existing source. In the case of ‘Mamma Mia!’, every song was made famous by ABBA.

In the story, Sophie (played by Camryn Maher) is about to get married, but before she ties the knot, she wants to finally meet her father. Sophie was raised at a resort on a Greek island by her mother, Donna (played by Megan Sellner), who never revealed the identity of her father.

After borrowing her mom's diary, she learns her father is one of three potential suitors: Bill Austin (Jony Flores), Harry Bright (Chase Zufall) or Sam Carmichael (Josiah Siefkes).

Without warning her mother first, Sophie decides to invite all three men to her wedding in hopes of figuring out which of them is her real father. Chaos, comedy and music follow once Donna is forced to face her three exes, one of whom is the father of her daughter.

"We wanted to give our students a show they could truly have fun with," Director George Hirschboeck said, explaining why they chose ‘Mamma Mia!’ "ABBA's music has a way of bringing people together, and from the beginning, we could picture our students singing these songs, dancing together, and filling the stage with energy.”

Hirschboeck described the musical as a story about family, friendship, love, growing up, and realizing that sometimes the people who become family are just as important as the family a person comes from.

Hirschboeck said ‘Mamma Mia!’ offered different acting challenges for this year's students.

“‘Mamma Mia!’ is not a classic musical,” he explained. “Most musicals are written broad with big emotions," he said. "This one is more grounded in real emotions. The students cannot be as over the top in their acting."

Chase Zufall, who plays Harry Bright, agreed it was a challenge to play the more grounded emotions. Zufall is no stranger to stage acting. This is the third SEHS musical production he has performed in.

"My personality is not that different from Harry's, but that actually makes it more difficult," he said. "The struggle is giving a balanced performance."

Zufall said the best part of the production was working with cast and crew, many of whom are his friends.

Jony Flores, who plays Bill Austin, is new to the SEHS stage. This is his first time acting, but said he is having fun learning his part.

Flores said that, as a more soft spoken person, his greatest acting challenge is learning to project his voice.

"I am learning to belt out my dialogue more," he said.

Camryn Maher, who plays Sophie Sheridan, said acting in ‘Mamma Mia!’ requires a high level of nuance.

"Sophie is a mostly happy and upbeat character, but there are times when she gets sad," Maher said. "Switching into those sadder scenes is tricky. It is hard to hit the right tone."

Maher admits that she was unfamiliar with ‘Mamma Mia!’ or the music of ABBA before she was cast as Sophie.

After being cast, she researched the part and was excited to have a large role, but was also excited to act alongside Megan Sellner again.

‘Mamma Mia!’ will mark the third time Maher and Sellner have played mother and daughter in a theater production. They were previously mother/daughter in "The Lion King" and in "Mary Poppins."

Though this is a very specific trend, Maher said she is not overly worried about being typecast.

Hirschboeck is extremely impressed with this year's cast. He said the production was full of returning actors who easily fell into their roles and the new actors were quick to catch on.

"This show takes a lot of time and commitment and these students are very dedicated to it," he said. "I have to thank everyone for their hard work on this musical. It is very demanding of their time."

Presale tickets for Mamma Mia! are available at sleepyeyetheater.org. Every show will also have 350 tickets available beginning 45 minutes before each performance.

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