Mamma Mia! at The Chrysler Theatre

By Justin Crouch

During its run, Windsor Light Music Theatre’s Mamma Mia! sold out most of its shows at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts.

Mamma Mia! Ran during the Nov. 16 and 23 weekends, with both matinees and evening shows.

“We were originally running six shows because we sold so many tickets. There was such interest that we anticipated it would be a sellout show or close to it,” said Hickman.

“The board of directors decided to add two extra matinees because of the ticket sales.”

Windsor Light was selected out of ten potential groups in North America to be offered pre-release rights for the Mamma Mia! run.

“The rights are not available right now for public amateur groups because tours just ended. I think we were selected because we have such a large house,” said Hickman.

“We’re so fortunate to play with such a big house, to sell this many tickets, to fill that 1200 seats. It’s bigger than some Broadway theatres in New York, house-wise.”

Brian Yeomans was one of the actors in the show. He played the role of Sam.

ABBA’s tracks were a heavy influence for Mamma Mia!, which is based around the concepts of the old songs.

“I don’t tend to listen to anything else but the show music that I’m doing so I don’t get myself distracted,” said Yeomans.

Hickman was responsible for casting and directing the musical.

“I had a lot of choice in casting. You need a balance since ABBA is really heavy with harmony, backup tracks  and background vocals. It [casting] was the hardest decision to make for the show,” said Hickman.

Yeomans said he was very thankful for the ability to play the role of Sam.

“He’s my favourite male character. Rosie played by our Amy Pinsonneault is honestly one of the funniest parts of the whole show and she can just knock’em dead each time. Kudos to Chris for great casting,” said Yeomans.

Yeomans said the energy he feels on stage is “electric.”

“Before you even get on the stage you can feel the electricity of a house with 1200 people,” he said. “You can’t see them, you see the first row of people, that’s it. But you can feel the electricity, you can feel their breaths. They’re giving it to us to give back. It’s a symbiotic give-and-take.”