David Jung

The cast of “Mamma Mia!” end a rehearsal scene with everyone in their respective places, working out choreography and placement for the musical scenes. With the students’ and Mrs. Sherratt’s hard work, the musical will be one of Ayala’s finest.

From the mystical island of Neverland to the vivid coastal cities of Greece, Ayala Theater Company (ATC) announced their upcoming spring musical. At the end of the fall play Peter Pan, Mrs. Madeleine Sherratt revealed the spring play as Mamma Mia!, which ATC was very excited about.

This spring play will be like no other, as the elements will not only include incredible acting and breathtaking sets, but musical numbers as well. With Mamma Mia!’s addition of musical numbers, ATC has been working on this spring production since October, where they planned out the intricate details associated with the musical itself. This process differed quite greatly from its past plays, requiring more time and effort.

Mamma Mia! auditions ran from January 3-5, but instead of reading a monologue for a particular character a student wanted to play, the first two days were music and dance workshops for aspiring actors to learn the audition song, which they could then audition for on January 5. 

“Each workshop was about two hours long. The first one for music and then the second one for dance,” co-music director Celine Kwai (12) said. “Maya [Mansour], the other music director, and I had to make art tracks and compose our own arrangement before the whole audition process.” 

Throughout the audition process, Mrs. Sherratt casted those she knew would most embody the lovable characters of Mamma Mia! as well as having the ability to perform the iconic songs in the original movie during callbacks. During those, she would have potential actors sing 16 measures of one of the songs followed by reading a monologue so she could get a sense of their skills.

Once the lead roles were posted, the cast and ensemble had to work hard together, spending an immense amount of time to learn all the notes and choreography and get it down in the month leading up to the performances.

“In addition to learning your lines, you also have to learn different parts of music, like learning the numbers and timing of the choreography and then stitching all of it together,” cast member Lily Schaumann (11) said.

Not only have the actors been laser focused on preparing well for their roles, but the technical and stage crews have also been working day and night to build the sets that would make Mamma Mia! come to life. These crews have been working to replicate set designs for Mamma Mia!, but also adding their own spin to it, making it unique to their own production.

“We’ve been focusing on the set the most. We have our own design and we’re going to have a balcony, which we’ve never done before,” the technical director Dania Nasreldeen (11) said.

All of ATC has been working on Mamma Mia!, putting their best efforts into making the show a unique tale of music and adventure. They hope that students will enjoy watching this upcoming spring musical almost as much as they all love being a part of making this amazing production. 

“Everyone’s going to be blown away by how awesome it will be, from the sets to the lights to the actual dancing,” Nasreldeen said. “We’ve never done anything like this before and we’re all really excited. We’re all going to put our best work into it.”

As of right now, the musical is set to take place from March 21-23.