From February 23rd to 25th, the Drama Club at BHS will be hosting Mamma Mia in the BHS auditorium. It is the first musical the club has put on for the school since The Suessical last year. The musical is based off of the original Mamma Mia musical from 1999 which was popularized by the 2008 film adaptation.

Production for Mamma Mia started in January. With there only being one musical throughout the school year, so much effort is put into producing this performance. The stage crew has been working on lighting, cues and props while the cast has been rehearsing. One actor, BHS Senior Adam Fettig, is playing as Sam Carmichael. Carmichael is one of the potential dads for the main character Sophie.  

“Rehearsals are run where it’s like, if it’s a block rehearsal, like the near the beginning of the show, we first run through our lines and then Bedard puts us in position from where we’re going to walk in and sets us in our various spots, walks us through, and once we have that done then we take it from the top and we try to do everything – not the lines from memory, but the choreography from memory,” Fettig said. 

To be better prepared for the lyrics, actors have to familiarize themselves with the music. Different actors will approach this in different ways, and for Mamma Mia specifically, multiple actors will have to remember and recite musical performances. 

“One of the things that I mostly do is I like to listen to the music in my car,” Fettig said. “I’ve been listening to the music a whole lot.” 

What seems like the most intimidating task from the audience’s perspective is remembering lines for the play. BHS’s cast is experienced in remembering dialogue, as much as the upperclassmen cast has been in productions in the past. 

“Lines wise, I’ve had my mom help me,” Fettig said. “Like originally she ran through the lines a lot and I think that helped a lot.”

Mamma Mia will allow more people this year to try major roles that were once casted to now graduated seniors. Over the past month, the cast has grown closer which improves their relationship on and off stage. 

“I think it’s really cool. I think that they are all fun people too. They all get along very well. In all honesty, I really didn’t know like almost any of them besides the main cast when we first started,” Fettig said. “Now I think we’ve all grown a good dynamic with each other to the point where I consider most, if not all of them, my good friends.”