Mamma Mia: More Than Just a Musical
- Eva Brebenel
- 6 days ago
- 10 min read
For one night – and one night only – Le Lycée’s Drama Club presented Mamma Mia! at the Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz on April 24th, 2025. Feeling like time has slipped through your fingers and you want to relive the show? My sentiments exactly. Or maybe you couldn’t make it to our performance and are wondering what the craze was all about. Whatever the case, no worries. I’ll be recounting our fabulous production of Mamma Mia! right here– and taking you along the journey of preparing for the show, along with a backstory of how I came to cherish the musical.
Mamma Mia! follows Sophie, a young girl who invites her three possible fathers Sam, Bill, and Harry to her wedding unbeknownst to her mother Donna. On the eve of her wedding, Sophie’s three possible fathers arrive at the Greek island on which she lives, each expecting a reunion with Donna after some twenty years. Sophie must keep their presence a secret from her mother– all while figuring out who her father truly is before she marries her fiancé Sky. In the meantime, Donna’s lifelong friends and past band members Tanya and Rosie arrive to prepare for the festivities. Donna, Tanya, and Rosie (i.e. the Dynamos) soon learn of the fathers’ presence and attempt to keep the dads’ identities hidden from Sophie. The plot thickens, and singing and dancing ensues…
The musical’s soundtrack is composed of the Swedish band ABBA’s greatest hits, including songs like “Dancing Queen” and “Super Trouper”. Written by playwright Catherine Johnson, the musical first made its debut in London in 1999. Ever since then, the show has received much acclaim. In fact, the musical became so popular that it was later developed into a movie in 2008 directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Ten years later, Oliver Parker wrote and directed a sequel: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).
Ever since the first time I watched Mamma Mia! the movie, I was utterly enthralled. The musical quickly earned its place as my favorite. A compelling story of ‘who’s the dad’ combined with the beauty of the Greek islands, ABBA’s best songs, and Meryl Streep as Donna putting her entire soul into singing “The Winner Takes It All”, the movie has everything. If you aren’t able to watch the musical in person, the movies are a superb way to get your ABBA on– and maybe shed a few tears too.
I was also lucky enough to watch Mamma Mia! the musical back in November of 2023 right here in Los Angeles, when the Broadway cast was touring. In fact, I went with Lucia, who played Donna in our show. Seeing the musical was another experience entirely. Hearing all of my favorite ABBA songs live along with acting and dancing was everything I’d ever dreamed of. During the encore, everyone in the audience stood and danced as the actors performed “Dancing Queen” and “Waterloo”. As a theatre kid, I naturally already wanted to be a part of a production of Mamma Mia!. But seeing the musical live multiplied that wish by a thousand. The songs. The dances. The outfits. The glitter. It sounded like a dream.
At the end of my junior year, after the Drama Club’s performance of Murder on the 518, I pitched the idea of doing Mamma Mia! for our senior show to our director, Mr. Decker. His initial response was a no. The high school hadn’t done a musical production before. It was a sizable task– preparing for a show that had singing and dancing on top of acting. And so I left drama into summer with no expectations for the next year, my hope of someday acting in Mamma Mia! pushed to the back of my mind, a distant dream.
I returned to school in the fall, eager to be a part of my last show in the Drama Club. A few weeks before the academic year started, we still did not receive word of what the play would be. Mr. Decker would tell us the first day of drama class.
Our first class started with the theatre kid basics– a few games of improv. It was not until the very end of class that Mr. Decker had us all sit down for his ‘big announcement’. He held a script in his hands, covering the title. I sat in the front row alongside my friends and fellow seniors. I squeezed my friend Chloe’s hand ever so tightly. The anticipation was at an all time high.
“Our 2024-2025 show is…” Mr. Decker began, a smile on his face. Then a pause. Probably the longest pause of my life. I held my breath.
“MAMMA MIA!” He announced, revealing the cover of the script in his hands.
Us seniors went crazy. We shrieked our heads off. Our final show at Le Lycée would be my favorite musical ever. I could hardly believe it: my distant dream had become a reality. The air for the rest of the day was filled with magic. The exciting prospect of rehearsing for Mamma Mia! made Tuesdays more bearable after our other classes. Auditions came and went, and I was cast as Tanya, one of Donna’s sassy best friends with three ex-husbands. I was ecstatic, as Tanya is one of my favorite characters. I adore Christine Baranski’s rendition of Tanya in the film.
For the next seven months, our Drama Club would rehearse our show nonstop. Mr. Decker guided us through tons of blocking and line memorization. Our other director Ms. Bryant helped us connect to our characters with her improvisation exercises throughout the year. Aside from the usual drama class period each Tuesday from 3:30-5:00, we also had dance with Ms. Rae until 6:30. Even though we were tired, hungry, and sometimes a little frivolous, we were true super troupers and danced on until the very end. We worked on our musical numbers for “Mamma Mia” and “Money, Money, Money” each week, practicing over and over again until the songs were stuck in everybody’s head. These two numbers featured the entire cast. Our strength in numbers really made these songs great. We lit up the stage as we danced around in our colorful costumes. Our directors, especially Mr. Decker, put in so much work to make this musical happen and for that I am ever so grateful. And being a part of a cast that was so dedicated to telling a story on stage through music and acting was so fulfilling.
The months eventually rolled around and it was then time for tech week, or dress rehearsal. We practiced at the theater on Monday and Tuesday before our performances on Wednesday morning for the middle schoolers and Thursday night for our families and friends. Our tech crew (Joao Boris, Vivian Giorgetti, Alula Omotoso, Heather McNeel, Idrissa N’Gom, Rio Shroff) all helped tremendously as we faced technical difficulties and malfunctioning microphones.
I believe that every actor left a piece of themselves up on that stage. We truly gave it our all. Our dancers (Francesca Biasolo, Lola Sultan, Phoebe Kim, Soleil Kim) constantly graced the stage with smiles on their faces that made the audience smile right back. Their dancing allowed our musical numbers to stand out. Our vacationers and hotel workers (Therina Brutus, Maya Aktar, Bella Belizaire, Gemma Ghandour, Maisie Perham, Lilly Rose Zozor) brought the hotel to life with their energy as they sang and danced. London Leeflang-Beetz sang a beautiful “I Have a Dream” as Father Alexandrios. Leila Lucas and Polaris Margolies, who played Eddie and Pepper (Donna’s help at the hotel), brought the epitome of drunk frat boy energy to their roles. Leila singing “Chiquitita” was entirely enchanting.
Abigail Stewart and Zofia Rosciszewski, who played Ali and Lisa (Sophie’s best friends) were incredibly enthusiastic and sang all the songs with so much passion. “Voulez-Vous” would not have been the same without their ‘a-has’. Anna Rosciszewski, Obsidian Tuckute-Romulus, and Leonardo Perale played the fathers Sam Carmicheal, Harry Bright, and Bill Austin, respectively. Each actor brought humor and personality to their respective roles. Anna’s entrances made the audience laugh each time she snuck up on stage behind Sophie and Donna. Olivia Seixas and Leon Romagosa were the perfect Sophie and Sky– they had us all melting during the wedding scene. Chloe Belga, who played Rosie (Donna’s other best friend) was my best comedic partner in crime– our scenes would not have been as lively without her. Lucia Laski, our Donna, was incredible. Her voice had us all moved to tears during “The Winner Takes It All”.
I don’t use the phrase ‘moved to tears’ lightly– Lucia’s solo song “The Winner Takes It All” was by far a favorite moment in the show shared by most of our cast. During the song, we would all crowd in the wings of the theater to see Lucia sing. Peeking out from behind the curtains, we’d all admire her pouring her heart out as she sang on stage. You could just hear the emotion in her voice.
There was this one moment during “The Winner Takes It All” where I was squished between all my castmates, sitting on the floor watching Lucia sing. She looked at Anna, who was on stage too. And then her gaze met mine for a second. I felt an overwhelming rush of nostalgia right then for an experience that wasn’t even over yet. I didn’t want it to end. I thought of how I’m now a senior, and how Mamma Mia! was our last show. Lucia and I along with Anna and Zofia are all seniors who were a part of the Drama Club all the way back in 4th grade. The theater and its 200 seats seemed so vast and intimidating back then in elementary school, but now it feels much smaller as a senior. It feels more vincible. So that very split second when Lucia looked at me, I thought of how the next time that we would be on this stage would be graduation. Now I know I may be getting overly emotional, but isn’t theatre all about drama?
I’ve had many favorite moments in Drama this year, but first I’ll hand over the microphone to some of my fellow castmates.
“Mamma Mia was the most magical experience ever. What I wouldn’t give to forever be sparkly and flamboyant on stage singing and dancing with my friends… it was honestly a memory I know we’ll all cherish, and a magnificent and extremely emotional way to end senior year. I’ll never forget the middle schoolers’ crowd wave when we were singing “Super Trouper”, nor tearfully watching “The Winner Takes it All” from the wings. We just had so much fun. Mr Decker really gave us the most incredible gift we could have ever asked for, and I’m so infinitely grateful.” says Chloe Belga, my dearest Rosie.
“Working on Mamma Mia with all of my friends was the best experience and one that I will forever cherish in my memories of high school. I will never forget the fateful day in September, as we were all stressing about college applications and math homework, when Mr. Decker announced the year’s show to us. We screamed. We never imagined that Mr. Decker would be able to get the script for Mamma Mia even as we pleaded with him the year before to put it on for our final show. From that moment on, our final show was going to be a musical– something that had never happened in Lycée high school history! For months, we perfected our performances– from dancing to singing to, of course, acting. Our hard work paid off tenfold, and our genuine enthusiasm for the show was felt by the audience. One of my favorite memories performing was for the middle schoolers, who joined the final “Super Trouper” song. If we managed to please even the middle schoolers, I consider our show a roaring success,” states Anna Rosciszewski, the one and only Sam Carmicheal.
“Mamma Mia was possibly one of my favorite shows that I have ever participated in. Not only was the story incredible and the dances super fun to learn, but I am so incredibly grateful to have done it with the people who participated. It was the perfect senior show and I was in awe of all my friends who played roles alongside myself. Lucia singing ‘The Winner Takes it All’ made me cry each time as I watched from the wings. Anna made me laugh as she added quirks to her character that no one was expecting. Therina’s voice made each song 10 times better. Zofia brought so much energy and enthusiasm to every moment that she was on stage. Chloe’s facial expressions brought so much life to every scene she was in. Eva (who was the reason we were performing Mamma Mia in the first place) shined so brightly on the stage and it made me so happy to watch her live her dream. It was truly a beautiful and special experience and I am so happy and proud of everyone who performed!,” reflects Abigail Stewart, my lovely Ali.
As for me, performing “Super Trouper” alongside my Dynamos was one of my favorite moments. Our costume designer Angela brought us these extremely sparkly costumes. If you’re picturing a lot of sparkles right now, picture even more. And in the colors of bright highlighters: pink, purple, and neon green. They were big. They were bold. It was great. As we were performing the encore version of the song for the middle schoolers, there was this totally spontaneous moment where they began to wave their arms from side to side along with the music in the audience. It was so sweet. I couldn’t stop smiling, even after we finished singing the song. I was actually living in the glittery extravaganza that I’d seen back in 2023 when I watched the musical.
I’m eternally grateful for every experience that theatre has given me. Theatre pushes you out of your comfort zone and lets you be someone you’re not. And sometimes that makes you learn more about yourself in the process. Whenever I perform, I am fully my character and nobody else. Everything stressful in life fades into the rear view behind the backdrop on stage. Instead, the only thing in the front focus is the audience sitting before you. There’s a fluttering feeling in your stomach that keeps pushing you to act, to sing, to dance, to shine on stage. It’s exhilarating.
I wish that I could stop time and freeze the moment where we took our final bows. To wave at my family and friends in the crowd and exchange smiles. To hug my best friends and fellow actors again and cheer because we just finished our show. But I can’t. Still, I’ll forever remember shining on stage as a Dynamo in my glittery makeup and extravagant costume, channeling my inner Christine Baranski, singing and dancing side by side with my best friends, and playing my dream role in my favorite musical, Mamma Mia!.
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