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'Mamma Mia!' set for run at Cloquet High School
Sophie Sheridan (Aspen Winbigler) tells her friend Ali (Allison Quamme) all the details from her mother's diary, written the year she was born.
Donna Sheridan (Lilyana Rosen) and her friends perform "Super Trooper" for Sophie and her buddies in the taverna.
Sam Charmichael (Preston Latour), left, and Bill Austin (William Bauer), center, arrive on the island and have fun with a dance number, "Money, Money, Money."
Be forewarned ... attending next week's Cloquet High School production of "Mamma Mia!" will have Abba songs running through your head day and night.
Having Abba in your head is a happy way to start the day though, just like the CHS musical is a happy way to spend a couple hours Thursday through Sunday next week, with performances starting at 7 p.m. Nov. 14-16 and 2 p.m. Nov. 17 in the CHS auditorium.
Director Corey Hunt said choir teacher (and music director) Rhonda Card pitched the musical last spring.
"She came with a presentation on why 'Mamma Mia' was the best show to do, and we've got the kids for it, and it's got such great music that basically everybody knows. It's super popular and it has a lot of really good good messages," Hunt said. "Plus the kids have been pushing for years to do this one, which is not something I was completely aware of."
The 2008 musical romantic comedy tells the story of 20-year-old Sophie, who is preparing to marry her fiancé, Sky, on the Greek Island where she lives with her hotelier mother. She wants her father to walk her down the aisle but doesn't know his identity. Thanks to finding her mother's diary, she ends up inviting three men from her mother's past to the wedding. Mayhem and dancing ensues.
Hunt rated the musical
PG-13.
"There's a few places with mild language and suggestive jokes or whatever, but those would probably be lost on a young child," he said.
That's because kids and adults alike will be too busy dancing in their seats to worry much about a plot line that folks in the 1950s might have considered risque, but what really is a tale of love and friendship.
The musical includes such hits as "Super Trouper", "Lay All Your Love on Me", "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Take a Chance on Me" and many more.
Assistant director Darrell Davey calculated there's about 30 minutes of dialogue and the rest is all music.
Hunt agreed.
"The music is probably the standout thing, that and the vocal talents, the kids, especially the leads that are just so incredible at singing these songs," Hunt said.
There's more to captivate the audience, including some pretty groovy costumes, an atmosphere of summer fun and a set that captures the magic of a Greek Island.
"I need to thank the small army of adults that are doing everything from costumes to set design and construction to directing the pit (that would be band teacher Kevin Huseth)," Hunt said.
Students make up the majority of musicians in the pit, along with piano accompanist Liz Sinisalo.
Between the singers and the musicians, this "showcase for having an Abba concert" is lots of fun and Hunt promised his lead actors have the chops to pull it off.
"Tickets are going fast, so people shouldn't expect to arrive at the auditorium and buy a ticket," Hunt said. "There might not be any available."
To buy a ticket, go to https://cur8.com/22974/project/126276 or call the high school at 218-879-3393. Cost is $12 for adults, $10 for students and senior citizens and $5 for children.
