South Salem High School recently announced “Mamma Mia” as the fall musical. South’s theater program has done many musicals over the past few years, including “Sound of Music,” “Hadestown” and “Wizard of Oz.” The casting announcements were shared in early October, and the leads have shared their excitement and goals for the performances. Samantha Snyder ‘27 and Alice Clark ‘27 are double cast as the lead role, Donna Sheridan and Eva Hernandez ‘27 and Liliana Quiroz ‘28 are double-cast as Sophie Sheridan.
Plot Overview
“Mamma Mia” tells the story of the mother-daughter duo Donna and Sophie, and is based off of the Swedish pop group ABBA. Sophie is 19 years old, and is about to get married to her fiance in Greece. Both Donna and Sophie invite their two best friends to the wedding, and Sophie secretly invites the three men that could potentially be her father. At first Donna is angry, but she soon rekindles her relationships with each man, as Sophie bonds with them as well. In the end, Sophie decides she does not care which one is her biological father, since she has a special relationship with each one. With this realization, she also decides to hold off on the wedding and explore the world with her fiance before she settles down, seeing how a romantic relationship is not the only significant aspect of life.
Thoughts from the Cast
The musical is very bittersweet, and the lead roles have expressed their excitement before the rehearsal process begins.
Samantha Snyder ‘27 has been doing theater since she was a freshman at South. She also participates in South’s choir program, and played Dorthy in last year’s production of “Wizard of Oz.” Snyder shared her goal for the musical is to enjoy it and live in the moment, as it is her last performance in high school theater.
“Mamma Mia is pretty much the perfect senior show to me. It is fun and has those sweet moments, like the Donna and Sophie duet of ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’, that will make this musical a memory I will remember so fondly of. I am so excited to be sharing this role with fellow senior and a best friend of mine, Alice Clark.” said Snyder.
As an avid ABBA fan, Snyder has also shared her excitement for participating in a show with their music.
‘ I am especially looking forward to singing ‘The Winner Takes It All’ because it is Donna’s huge solo in the musical. It is so emotional and powerful and is just an incredible song I fell in love with during the auditioning process. I am also excited for the scenes with the Dynamos, but mostly because of the fun costumes we will be wearing.” said Snyder.
Similarly, Alice Clark ‘27, who is double-cast as Donna has also participated in South’s theater program for four years.
“I think it is a great senior show. It’s very upbeat and happy, but also bittersweet, and I feel like the themes of this show really resonate with being a senior and how we are going into the next phase of our lives. I am also so grateful to be sharing the role of Donna with Sami.” said Clark.
Clark also shared her longtime appreciation for the movie, as well as the band ABBA.
“I just hope that all of us who are a part of this show have a great time putting it together, and that everyone who comes to see it enjoys it.” said Clark.
Eva Hernandez ‘27, who will be playing Sophie, has been in theater for ten years. She has shared that although her show is bittersweet, she is looking forward to doing it because it reflects her experience with growing up and major life events
“I am very excited to sing “Thank You For The Music”, and I am really excited to have a fake wedding.” Hernandez said.
Hernandez also shared her excitement about being double-cast as Sophie with her best friend, Lilliana Quiroz.
“I just want to enjoy my final show with my best friend (Liliana Quiroz), I could not be luckier to be cast beside her.”
Lilliana Quiroz, ‘28, who is double-cast as Sophie, has been doing theater since she was ten years old, and this April will be her seven year mark. Quiroz shared that although she was surprised “Mamma Mia” was the musical choice, she was still excited because Sophia is one of her dream roles.
“I am definitely most looking forward to the songs “Name of the Game” and “Under Attack” as they are my favorite songs in the entire musical and I am so lucky I get to sing them. I am also so excited to share the role of Sophie with my bestest friend in the whole world, [Hernandez], so this experience as a whole will be very special.” said Quiroz.
Quiroz shares that her goals for the rehearsal process is to put on a strong performance, and collaborate with new people.
