‘Mamma Mia!’ musical to run at CNY Playhouse

This Valentine’s Day is opening night for the hit musical “Mamma Mia!” at The Central New York Playhouse, a community theater located at ShoppingTown Mall. The production is a central New York amateur premiere and will run through March 2.

“Mamma Mia!,” a jukebox musical based on some of ABBA’s greatest hits, tells the story of Donna Sheridan as she prepares for her daughter’s wedding on their small Greek island. Things heat up when Sophie, Donna’s only daughter, secretly invites her three possible fathers to the wedding.

While many people are familiar with the 2008 film adaptation of “Mamma Mia!” starring Meryl Streep and its recent sequel, the stage production has been around for 20 years, inspiring countless renditions at theaters across the world.

To put their own spin on the classic musical, the playhouse has stripped away the glitz of the show, shining a spotlight on the music itself. Co-director Abel Searor said the company’s talented singers and instrumentalists will help the show’s music stand on its own.

“It’s almost like going to a two-hour rock concert, really,” Searor said. “The story is there, but people come for the music.”

The show, also directed by Stephfond Brunson, stars theater veteran Becky Bottrill as Donna Sheridan and Hali Greenhouse as Sophie Sheridan. Greenhouse is no stranger to the CNY Playhouse stage, having starred as Sherrie Christian in “Rock of Ages” last summer.

The minimalist set works to convey a simpler time and happier life found on the small Greek island where “Mamma Mia!” takes place. The set design is intentionally simple, with 14 chairs and four trunks that will be reconfigured from scene to scene so the set doesn’t distract from the performance itself.

Audience members will see a blank stage outside a giant Greek taverna transform into Donna’s bedroom with a bed made out of trunks, Searor said. The props are designed with enough detail to suggest what they are in the simplest way.

“It’s almost as though these characters have stripped away things from their lives and have been mostly able to focus on what actually matters: relationship, friendship and love,” Searor said. “I think that that’s something that all of us can stand to be reminded of.”

Members of the playhouse are not afraid to venture beyond the limits of traditional community theater, priding themselves on doing show premieres that haven’t been done at an amateur theater in central New York before.

Stage Manager Lizzy Allers, who manages set pieces and props, said she was experimental when choreographing the scene changes.

“We had to be a lot more creative with how we make a bedroom out of only using chairs and four trunks,” she said.

The CNY Playhouse was originally a store in a shopping mall that was converted into a theater, Allers said. Because of this unconventional arrangement, the staff is always thinking of new ideas and trying different things with the limited space they have.

Allers said Searor is especially skilled at making live music work in the venue. For this show, the band will perform on stage rather than in an orchestra pit.

For Searor, “Mamma Mia!” is an opportunity to revisit classic hits that nearly everyone has heard, whether it was dancing to “Dancing Queen” at a wedding reception or hearing ABBA on the radio.

“I think that it does cause you to view this music in a new light and just kind of stop and have fun for a couple of hours,” Searor said.