I Have a Dream – Mamma Mia!

I was really excited about seeing this night because it was the first time I was seeing the show outside of Toronto, so there was a whole new cast. Also, I was curious if they’d change anything about the show, what with Bill being Australian and all. 🙂 But, for those of you that are curious like I was, the whole cast is Australian – they just make Bill a little *more* Australian (of the outback variety) than the rest. 🙂 And, Margie hadn’t seen the show before, so of course I felt obligated to change that!

There were a few minor differences in dialogue from the Toronto production, just to make the references make sense (ie. Pepper is from Geelong, not Detroit), but overall the script and staging were pretty much the same. There were, however, some really different takes on the characters that made the evening really interesting for me.

First up was Anne Wood as Donna. Having seen Camilla Scott 6 times, I’d gotten pretty used to her version of Donna. Anne wasn’t quite as aggressive (I found myself wondering why Sky, Pepper and Eddie would be afraid of her), but she did a really good job at the quieter moments in the second act. Nicholas Eadie, who played Sam, was probably the most different of anyone – his Sam was a little more down-to-earth than the other men I’ve seen. He had this sort of “aw, shucks” disposition that was really endearing. I think overall I actually preferred his interpretation!

Bill, as I’ve said, was kind of a “redneck” Australian. 🙂 And Harry was played as less of a geek than he is in Toronto – more of an upper-class fastidious yuppie. I didn’t like Rhonda Burchmore as Tanya as much as I like Tamara Bernier in Toronto, but then I *love* Tamara Bernier as Tanya, so that probably doesn’t help. 🙂 And Lara Mulcahy was really good as Rosie – nothing much else to say about that! We had an understudy for Sophie, but she was quite good as well!

We had really great seats for this performance – second row, which is waaaay closer than I’ve ever sat in Toronto. And it was great, because at the end, the cast really encouraged the audience to get up and dance with them, so nearly everyone did! It was a great time, as always!!