Gloucester High School is known for taking on massive musical productions, and this year was no exception, with its seven shows of Mamma Mia! bringing in large crowds.
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The mammoth production opened to the public on Tuesday evening (June 15) to an audience of 80 people - a number that executive co-producer Layne Ross believes was the biggest opening night in a while.
This was backed up by more than 100 people showing up for the Wednesday (June 16) show and sold out nights across Friday (June 18) and Saturday (June 19). Interwoven within the public shows were four matinee performances for the local schools.
Depending on which show was attended, the audience was treated to two different versions of the full cast with a few of the main parts being shared.
Kicking off the run as Donna Sheridan was Adelaide McKintosh with Donna's best friend's Tanya and Rosie played by Chelsi Harrison and Anita Jackson; Sophie Sheridan's best friends, Lisa and Ali played by Verity Badham and Brooke Willis; and Pepper played by Ellie Bird.
The second cast version saw Elyssa Keen as Donna; Josie Fitzgerald and Melia Mulder as Tanya and Rosie; Lynelle Hester and Jazmyne Rolvink as Lisa and Ali; and Thomas Troope as Pepper.
Braving the whole run of seven productions were:
Anna-Rose Seale as Sophie; Ryan Beggs as Sam; Joe Hogan as Harry; Aston Wisely as Bill; Locky Moulds as Sky; Kurtis Sullivan as Eddie and Dylan Sealy as Father Alexandrios. Helping to bring the ABBA songs to life was the chorus made of up: Kyiesha Leary, Alana Benson, Emily Walker, Bree Norrie, Sadbh Renshaw, Kaleesha Aitken, Abbey Seale and Caitlin Campbell - not to mention the hard work of the live band made up of students and community members.
Director Maureen Hjorth and musical director Judy Ingram were both blown away by the way everything came together for the live shows. After many months of rehearsing, both could be spotted singing the infectious classics from different corners of the school hall during each production.
The amount of teamwork and commitment was evident from all the other people involved from the stage hands to those who painted the fabulous sets capturing the Greek landscape. The audiences where left thoroughly entertained and amazed by the sheer quality of yet another Gloucester High School production.
Now the Gloucester community has to wait two years for the next one. But given the sheer magnitude of the types of musicals the school likes to stage, it's no wonder they need a decent length break!
Well done to everyone involved.