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28Mar

Best written reviews for “Mamma Mia!” performed by Clarksburg High School in Clarksburg, Maryland. Reviewed on March 26, 2022.

Beverly D’Andrea

Westfield High School

 

A hint of a sea breeze seemed actually to waft from Clarksburg High School's sun-soaked stage and set the scene for all the rapacious fun that friendship, flirtation, and ABBA hits can generate. However, the cast and crew of Mamma Mia! did more than bop along to Dancing Queen, they took us below the veneer of seaside bliss, showing real people struggling with the hardest emotion of all: love.

 

The show follows lovely Sophie Sheridan as she prepares for her wedding along with her mother, Donna. But when Sophie secretly invites her three possible dads to the wedding Donna is forced to reconcile with her past and Sophie must make a choice.

 

The show is a jukebox musical featuring Swedish band ABBA's music by writers Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with book by Catherine Johnson. It first opened at the Prince Edward Theater on the West End in London and has since garnered great fame, with a movie adaption and sequel.

 

In the role of determined, soft-hearted Donna was the talented Jeanne Lubika. Lubika immediately grasped audience attention with her magnetic, powerful vocals in songs like "Mamma Mia" and "Winner Takes it All",  but it was Lubika's intimate understanding of her character that held audience attention all show long. Lubika played Donna fearlessly and with great versatility, unafraid to turn Dancing Queen into a realistically humorous moment of friendship with bold physical choices and also able to convey motherly affection through the simple, small motions and haunting vocals in "Slipping Through My Fingers". Supporting Lubika as Donna's best friends were Olivia May as Tanya and Ishika Naik as Rosie. The two played off each other with the practiced jocularity of old pals, while still maintaining their characters' individuality. May's Tanya was as sassy and haughty as she should be, culminating in an impish rendition of "Does your Mother Know" with May showing off her lovely voice and teasing physicality with Pepper (Nikhil Naik). Ishika Naik was a riot every second she was on stage. Utilizing more physical humor than Tanya, her Rosie was always unapologetically quirky and loud which Naik seemed to relish, especially in her hysterical song "Take a Chance" with Bill (Dilan Pais). Naik hammed it up through suggestive and well-calculated physicality and strong vocals, as she danced Bill to exhaustion.

 

As bride-to-be Sophie was Isabella Cabrera. Cabrera's clear, sweet voice showed her innocent nature in songs like "Name of the Game" and "Under Attack". Cabrera's sweet connection with fiancé Sky (Josie Escario) was apparent in "Lay All Your Love on Me" with their tender embraces and flirty movement. Cabrera's well-played descent into panic during the manic "Voulez-Vous" demonstrated her distress through the choreography.

 

Transporting the audience to sunny Greece was achieved to great effect through the impressive technical elements. The sets, by Rachel Mayo, Lillian Dejesus, Ether Peterson, and Maddie McClure, were gorgeously detailed (replete with flower boxes and stone patterns) and were on turntables to better create the interior of the taverna. The stunning costumes, by Riya Shah, Debika Biswas, and Danielle Smith, fit the show as they were summery and colorful, and the Dynamos performance costumes were excitingly 70s. The stage management (Nolan Brennan) and run crew (Lillian Dejesus, Esther Peterson, and Maddie McClure) skillfully executed their transitions, bringing on the bed multiple times perfectly unobtrusively.

 

Clarksburg High School put on a production of Mamma Mia that was pure fun start to finish, with a lot of heart thrown in. The winner does take it all, and to win one only has to find love.


Tess Jannery-Barney

Langley High School

 

One daughter. One mother. One wedding. Three fathers? Clarksburg High School celebrated this wacky wedding and a boatload more in their sunny, seaside production of Mamma Mia! Part hilarious friendships, family complications, and cheeky flirtation, the heart of Mamma Mia! explores themes of finding joy in the past and present.

 

Inspired by the music of ABBA, Mamma Mia! is a jukebox Broadway musical, set in a bohemian Greek village and hotel run by a youthful matriarch, Donna Sheridan. Mamma Mia! centers around the bonds of motherhood and paternity, as Donna prepares for her daughter, Sophie's white wedding to fiancé Sky. But when Sophie invites Sam, Bill, and Harry–her three suspected fathers–to the wedding, Donna is forced to rehash old romances, rely on her friends Tanya and Rosie, and keep her family together.

 

Jeanne Lubika brought a vibrant energy to the stage as Donna, with beautiful, strong vocals in songs such as "The Winner Takes It All," providing an emotionally vulnerable and mature performance. Lubika was an excellent solo performer, as well as an ensemble member, handling comedic situations and group numbers. The Dynamos, Tanya (Olivia May), Rosie (Ishika Naik), and Donna (Jeanne Lubika), had excellent chemistry with one another, harmonizing and finding joy with one another in the encouraging "Dancing Queen." Additionally, May and Naik as Tanya and Rosie were hilarious foils of one another, both as best friends onstage and in their numbers. Naik played into the physical comedy of Rosie in "Take a Chance on Me," where Naik flung herself into the arms of Bill (Dilan Pais); and May smartly sassed into the role of casual comedienne, Tanya, flirting with Pepper (Nikhil Naik) in "Does Your Mother Know." Additionally, the endearing potential father Harry, (Brandon Miller) and sweet bride-to-be, Sophie (Isabella Cabrera) shared individual warmth and kindness on stage, each with their soft voices and fluid singing. Cabrera found contrast, displaying a light, angelic voice in Act 1, then later pop belt vocals in "Under Attack."

 

In the sensitive "Slipping Through My Fingers," the set (by Rachel Mayo, Lillian Dejesus, Esther Peterson, Maddie McClure) turned on its axis in the center of the stage, revealing a group of bridesmaids primping themselves for the wedding. This set design furthered "Slipping Through My Fingers," allowing for parallel storytelling between mother and daughter as well as the wedding party. Additionally, the stage crew (Lillian Dejesus, Esther Peterson, Maddie McClure) ran swift scene changes, such as in the transition from the outdoor villa into a bohemian bedroom during Act 1, successfully changing multiple set pieces in a matter of seconds without notice.

 

Clarksburg High School's performance of Mamma Mia! roped the audience into the summer joy of Greece and the story of a not-so-simple family. Each song and scene were captivating with fun and stinging with humor, the distinct characters shining through as an ensemble. From offstage to onstage, the technical crew found an ocean of fluidity, letting the audience sit back, relax, and watch the details of the seaside show. With a sarcastic story, funny fathers and friends, and a summertime lightheartedness, Clarksburg High School encouraged the audience to dance, jive, and have the time of their life.

 

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