To date, an estimated 65-70 million people have seen the hit musical, which comes to Vancouver May 26-31
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
Mamma Mia!
Article content
Article content
When: May 26-31
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 630 Hamilton St., Vancouver
Tickets: From $205 at Ticketmaster and 1-800-889-8457
Article content
Jalynn Steele answers the phone with the kind of musical theatre energy one might hope for from someone who is in the touring company of Mamma Mia! The exuberance, though, isn’t from having just completed her latest run-through of a show she figures she has performed in at least 850 times.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
“I just finished teaching a master class, so I’m filled with that energy right now,” the Texas-raised Steele said, shortly after leading a session for dance students at Creighton University in Omaha.
Article content
Sun Spots
Article content
The class focused on Dancing Queen. Steele taught students her own version of the choreography before taking part in a Q&A session.
Article content
“The school is science- and medicine-based,” she said. “So it was great to see that, even though they’re studying neuroscience or whatever, they still have a panache for doing a little Dancing Queen.”
Article content
Steele has been with the current touring production of Mamma Mia! since it launched in Denver in October 2023. For those who have been living in a cave for the past 25 years, Mamma Mia! is a jukebox musical filled with the songs of ABBA. It takes place on a Greek island, where a restaurant owner, Donna, is preparing for her daughter Sophie’s wedding. Complications arise when Sophie invites three men from her mom’s past, thinking that one of them must be her father, to the blessed event.
Article content
To date, an estimated 65-70 million people have seen the show, which has grossed more than $2 billion worldwide. Its original Broadway run, from 2001-2015, made it one of the 10 longest-running shows in the history of the Great White Way.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
Steele plays Tanya, Donna’s glamorous and outspoken friend. The performer can relate to some aspects of her character and others, not so much.
Article content
Read More
-
Vancouver theatre: 6 must-see plays being staged in May
-
Vancouver playwright re-examines the Israel-Palestine narrative from a soldier’s view
-
Advertisement 1
Story continues below
Article content
“I will say that we do have the same sort of love for friendship and girl power,” she said. “But as for the one-piece jumpsuit and platform heels — well, that’s where we differ.”
Article content
Article content
As Tanya, Steel gets to perform Does Your Mother Know, an anthemic showstopper that allows her some freedom to improvise musically and physically.
Article content
“The musical director and choreographer kind of let me have a little bit of free rein,” she said. “I get to bring a little piece of Jaelynn in there for those musical riffs and freestyle dancing.”
Article content
Before joining the national tour, Steele had already dipped a toe into the world of Mamma Mia! by playing Tanya at Indianapolis’ Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre.
Article content
Because of her naturally larger-than-life personality, she found she had to dial herself down somewhat.
Article content
“But at the end of the show, when everybody’s having the dance party, you can let it all fly.”
Article content
Steele’s Broadway debut came in The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, another touring production that eventually transferred to New York.
