By Emily Swope ‘22, Editor-in-Chief (March 2022)

On March 3, 4, and 5, the Newark Academy Arts Department presented Mamma Mia! in the newly-renovated Coraci Performance Hall. At each of the three performances, students, families, and faculty filled the auditorium, bringing energy that we’ve missed over the past two years. The show had an ensemble cast where many community members had opportunities to shine; it was a show full of music, so NA musicians played through the night; the final number got the entire audience on their feet and dancing together. This success was the result of hard work and dedication from many members of the Newark Academy community. The cast, pit band, build and run crew, stage managers, program designer, photographers, and videographers were all composed of Newark Academy students, and this incredible production is a reflection of the hard work and talent of the entire Newark Academy Arts Department.

Mamma Mia! is a fan-favorite show taking place on a small island in Greece and set to the music of ABBA. The musical begins as 20-year old Sophie Sheridan (Claire Waskow ‘23) prepares to marry the love of her life Sky (Andrew Kapferer ‘24). One component that she seems to be missing from her dream wedding, however, is a father to walk her down the aisle. Donna (Meredith Janay ‘22), Sophie’s mother and lead singer of the ‘70s pop group Donna and the Dynamos, refuses to help Sophie on her quest to learn about  her father or answer any questions about her past. Nevertheless, Sophie takes matters into her own hands, and when looking through her mother’s old diaries, she discovers three men that could possibly be her father: Sam (Evan Bulan ‘23), Bill (Zach Strain ‘22), and Harry (Evan Samaro ‘23). Sophie sends wedding invitations to all three men with the assumption that  when she meets them, she will instinctively know which one is her father. However, when the time comes, it is not as clear as she once thought. 

Mamma Mia! follows Sophie and Donna as they unravel this mystery and reveal Donna’s past, embrace both old and new relationships, and strengthen their bond with  each other. The show encourages us to find love, connect with family, and reconcile with the past in order to move forward. In her program note, director Rachel Shapiro Cooper describes Mamma Mia! as “a story of the resilience of the human spirit and the joy that can come from seeming failure,” and explains, “Mamma Mia! shows us that we are all just one step away from the life we have always wanted.”The message of the story was hopeful in itself, but watching the performance also inspired a sense of hope of normalcy and joy within the Newark Academy community. While it wasn’t the first performance in the Coraci Performance Hall, it was the first in which the performers were unmasked, meaning that the audiences could see the students smile, emote, and truly perform. The musical united the Newark Academy community by reminding us of the power of music and live performance to ignite joy and connection. As we move forward towards a new sense of normalcy, I hope we can take with us this sense of festivity and community and remember the power of these special moments. On behalf of the Newark Academy community, I would like to congratulate the cast and crew of Mamma Mia! and say, “Thank you for the music, the songs [we’re] singing. Thanks for all the joy they’re bringing. Who can live without it, [we] ask in all honesty, what would life be? Without a song or a dance what are we? So I say thank you for the music, for giving it to me.”