There’s a
new kid on the block – ACT (A Contemporary Theatre) of CT – and it bears
watching. The creation of Broadway veterans Daniel Levine and Katie Diamond,
the Equity production company is nested in a thoroughly renovated building
(complete with a stage turntable) on what is known as the Schlumberger property
in Ridgefield, Ct. It’s certainly not located on the main drag – you travel up
hill and down dale before you get to the yet-to-be fully paved road that leads
to the venue, but it’s worth the trek, especially since the company’s inaugural
production is Mamma Mia!, a guaranteed
crowd-pleaser with over 5,000 Broadway performances to its credit.
There’s
probably little need to provide more than a brief synopsis of the musical’s
book, written by Catherine Johnson. It’s really a jukebox musical created by
Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus that showcases many of the hit tunes of ABBA,
a Swedish pop group that dominated the hit charts from the mid-70s to the early
80s. Thus, the book is slight. Basically, Sophie Sheridan (an engaging Emily
Rogers) is getting married to Sky (Paul Schwensen). She wants her father at the
ceremony, but she doesn’t know who her father is, since her mother, Donna (the
always riveting Juliet Lambert Pratt), had three contiguous affairs some 20
years ago with Harry (Victor Hernandez), Bill (Craig Ramsay) and Sam (Michael
Hunsaker). The solution? Invite all three. They accept and arrive on the small
Greek island, as do Donna’s old friends and fellow performers, Tanya (Jodi
Stevens) and Rosie (Sheri Sanders), a threesome once known as Donna and the
Dynamos. Of course, confusion ensues, but it all works out in the end.
As directed
by Levine and choreographed by Jason Wise, this is a high-energy show (some may
find it, at moments, just a bit too overwhelming…and a bit too long) that
offers hit tune after hit tune with brief forays into exposition. There’s no
denying the cast’s enthusiasm to entertain. Rogers is the perfect ingénue – a
young girl on the brink of adulthood, both fierce and fragile. Her voice is
clear and pure, and she creates a quite believable Sophie. As her mother, Pratt
delivers whenever she’s on stage, especially with Donna’s signature song, “The
Winner Takes it All.” Many are probably familiar with Meryl Streep’s take on
this song in the filmed version of the musical – it was driven by underlying anger
and thus carried with it a lot of dramatic, accusatory gestures. Pratt’s take
on the number is more subdued and plaintive – a soul expressing its pain. You
can’t help but be moved.
Donna’s sidekicks – Tanya and Rosie – are
essentially stereotypes: Tanya the vamp and Rosie the buffoon, and Stevens and
Sanders are just fine in delivering what needs to be delivered. Stevens does a
sexy turn with “Does Your Mother Know?” and Sanders nails it with “Take a
Chance on Me.” In fact, everyone delivers, from the leads to the ensemble. If
there is any complaint to be registered about the production it rests with
sound designer Daniel Lundberg’s work.
From the
opening notes of the overture, the sound simply assaults. It would work,
perhaps, in a 500-seat venue, but the ACT theater is quite a bit more intimate,
and the house seems to be constructed to be acoustically sensitive. Thus, the
sound created by the eight musicians located behind an up-stage scrim seems to
blare and the actors are over-miked, creating a feeling that everyone is
belting out the songs even when belting is not called for. There also seems to
be some unnecessary echo and reverb effects. The show would certainly benefit
from a decrease in decibel level (perhaps even a consideration that the actors really
don’t need to be miked at all?)
The sound
notwithstanding, there’s no denying that it’s difficult not to be swept up in
the enthusiasm and talent up there on the stage, especially evident in “Voulez
Vous,” the first act’s closing number, and the encore numbers ending with the
exuberant “Waterloo,” when the stage seems to erupt with dancing bodies,
creatures resurrected from decades ago that evoke a somewhat psychedelic era
that often made little sense but was a hell of a lot of fun…and fraught with funkiness.
This is an
abbreviated season for ACT. Next year the company plans to offer Evita, as well as Working, a lesser-known musical by Ridgefield resident Stephen
Schwartz (he of Pippin and Wicked fame) and the quirky 25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee. It will be interesting to see how this production company,
with its stated goal of bringing Broadway to Ridgefield, matures and refines
its personality and creative cachet.
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