Each lead brings larger than life colour to his or her character. Rice plumbs the complex emotions of a mother whose daughter is about to move into a new, independent phase of her life. Rachel Crawford’s unmarried Rosie Mulligan is a ribald extrovert while Suzan Anderson as three-time divorcee Tanya oozes confidence, wealth and a hint of the cougar.
The three possible dads are made up of Bill Austin, an Australian adventurer who is played by Peter Derby with a mix of well-twanged, lugubrious laddishness. Andrew Stevens is former heavy metal musician, now a self-controlled but charming English toff, Harry Bright. Peter Grealish plays Sam Carmichael as a sensitive, good-hearted chap. He still has strong feelings for Donna but she sees him as a cad.
Sophie’s bridesmaids Ali (Chloe Turner), with a fine Northern English accent, and Lisa (Ngahuia Riddell) are given little dialogue for most of the production but the two girls have a charismatic on-stage presence. Even younger teens than Turner and Riddell make up the adolescents in the ensemble but their youth brings high energy and athleticism to the dance and chorus scenes. A quick change and reappearance of a group of boys for a post-stag party comic dance routine was a particular cracker of a crowd-pleaser.
Talented dancer Austin Rice and Anderson present another scene-stealer in a routine in which Rice’s character, appropriately named Pepper, makes amorous advances to the flirtatious Tanya only to be outplayed and have his togs stripped off in the process.
Michael Seymour as Sophie’s fiance Sky is well-matched with Rolfe and has fine stage presence in the song and dance routines. Opening night nerves might have compromised his diction and projection a little, as it did with several actors — but having got the first show tucked away that issue will undoubtedly have been smoothed out by the next performance. Minor fumbles, nothing to worry about, were well compensated for with a stage that frothed relentlessly with light, laughter and drama.
Special mention must be given to the band made up of Trish Tattle, Catherine Macdonald, Coralie Hunter, Tracy Bacon, Cam Wood, Joseph Samuel Walsh, Tahi Paenga, Peter Te Kani, Amanda Maclean and Mikey Jones.
With a mix of guitars, percussion and a fleet of keyboards the 10-piece somehow manages to achieve a full orchestra sound that gives the cast their singing and dancing wings.
Act 2 deepens and darkens and opens with a well-executed bad dream in which Sky makes a surreal and well-played appearance. When Rice sings One of Us, she reaches deep to convey Donna’s hurt at Sam’s reappearance in her life. The gulf between her and Sam grows as heard in their strong rendition of SOS.
Rice plays the poignancy of Donna’s loneliness with great emotional power in her performance of the song The Winner Takes It All while in his solo performance of Knowing Me Knowing You Grealish plumbs real emotion in his character’s sadness.
The show ends on many euphoric notes, of course, and is rounded off with a wildly upbeat, disco-costumed finale that had the audience clapping along with the cast’s song and dance routine.
The season is sure to be a sell-out.
Book early.
