I feel quite honoured and happy to be able to attend media calls for musical theatre productions. They are by far my favourite media related event that I get to attend.
Here is part 1 of 4 of the cast and creatives interviews from the Mamma Mia! the Musical media call. You can also see more Mamma Mia! related things as seen on this blog. More to come!
SPOILERS!
For more information and tickets, go to: mammamiathemusical.com.au
SARAH Krndija – Sophie Sheridan
LEWIS Francis – Sky
Sarah and Lewis – on being familiar with the songs:
Lewis: “Doing the show, you don’t realise how ubiquitous it is. The songs are everywhere, and you don’t realise how much you know coming into the show.”
Sarah: “There was one song for me [that I was unfamiliar with]. Under Attack, it opens act two. I thought, what is this? In terms of our generation knowing the songs, not knowing the songs or not growing up with them, they’re on every dance floor and in contemporary music these days, so it’s a really well-known catalogue across generations.”
Sarah and Lewis – on favourite songs to perform:
Lewis: “Oh gosh, I love doing Lay All Your Love On Me, but I love Winner Takes It All as well.”
Sarah: Mine’s Slipping Through My Fingers. I think I’ve not cried three times over 150 shows we’ve done. It is the most heartbreaking pop song I’ve ever listened to.”
Sarah and Lewis – on the audition process:
Lewis: “We go through about three, four, five rounds of auditioning over a couple of months, and you never really know what’s going to happen. So, you just have to bring your A game and just go for it.”
Sarah: “[You] start off with a singing round, dance round, acting round, a chemistry round, and then you fall in love with the role, and then you try not to fall in love too hard, and then you’re waiting by the phone. And that was a lot of for me, it was a lot of like, ‘oh, I don’t want it too much because its gonna hurt too much [if I don’t get it]’, because that happens. But it worked out.”
Sarah and Lewis – on creating chemistry on stage:
Lewis: “That is a tough question, actually. We just connected in the audition.”
Sarah: “I think it’s either there or it’s not.”
Lewis: “Yeah, it definitely is. And Sarah is so generous on stage.”
Sarah: “I feel the same.”
Sarah – on stepping into the role of such an iconic character:
“It’s been a dream come true, as cliché as that sounds. We’re so well supported here, and it’s daunting because Amanda [Seyfried, from the 2008 film of the same name] did a good job. Everybody knows and loves the character so much, so I feel lucky that they’re celebrating our individuality and what we bring.
There’s a buoyancy that all Mamma Mia productions have played with, that’s the biggest takeaway from the movie that I got. It’s like a bible in some way, a reference point at the beginning of the process, and then I’ve put it to the side and done my own thing.”
Sarah – on what she learned about Sophie after stepping into the character herself that she didn’t pick up on from watching the film and/or past productions:
“She’s going through a really brutal time, like an identity crisis. Finding out who your dad is is such a pivotal part of somebody’s life and ordinarily you have that entitled to you when you’re growing up. It’s a much deeper story than I gave credit for in the beginning and a much deeper inner turmoil for Sophie.”
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All images by Mallory Arbour.
TINSEL and TAP SHOES 