This week, I took an exclusive in-depth, behind-the-scenes trip with the cast of Mamma Mia as it continued it's first ever Nationwide tour of the UK at the Birmingham Hippodrome, where it is currently running until Saturday September 3rd.


 

It’s a Summer of sun, sea, sand and ‘souper troupers’ in Birmingham this year, as the City’s iconic Hippodrome theatre plays host to musical theatre behemoth Mamma Mia, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ award-winning, audience-hoovering ABBA stage favourite (read our Five Star reviewfrom Press night in Birmingham). Perhaps surprisingly though for such a perennial favourite, and one of Musical Theatre’s ‘Power 5’, this is the first time that the production has embarked upon a Nationwide UK tour. It previously dipped in and out of the regions - at Cities such as Liverpool and Bristol - as part of a wider International Tour, but now Donna and the gang are putting their jet-setting on hold for a year or two to allow British audiences far and wide to lap up the feel-good, Europop fun.

Mamma Mia’s journey has actually gone through quite a few peaks and troughs, I think. When it first opened it was huge and exciting, and then it went a bit quiet until the movie came out, at which point it exploded again.”

I’m sat in the Hippodrome’s sizeable Green Room café on a rare yet appropriately sunny August afternoon in the City Centre, talking to David Ribi and Jacob Fisher, both members of Mamma Mia’s ensemble. Ribi elaborates upon the journey the show has gone on to reach the point where ABBA-mania seems to once again be bubbling up to the surface as the show makes its way cross-Country.

“I think now with the UK tour, it’s exploding again because everyone is noticing it. They’re remembering watching the film, and it’s been enough time that everyone probably thought a UK Tour was a good idea now. I know it has been on the cards for years.”


 

Stourbridge News:

Jacob Fisher (far left) and David Ribi (centre) on stage with their 'Mamma Mia' cast-mates.


 

It’s a succinct summary of the journey of a show which continues to prove itself a surefire crowd-pleaser and seat-filler, even 17 years after opening in London. And now, according to Ribi, the touring process is an important way of bringing it to audiences who would otherwise be unable to experience the show:

“A lot of people can’t afford to go to London to see a show like this. When you go to Edinburgh or Manchester you’ve got a whole new crowd of people who get to enjoy the show. We’ve got a chance now for the company to put itself solidly in the UK so everyone can see it and the buzz can light up a bit, I suppose.”

There’s a palpable sense of enthusiasm and positivity from Ribi and Fisher both as they discuss the show, but one can’t help but wonder how such a lengthy show run could run the risk of running a little dry, particularly for those in perhaps less showy or principle roles. We began to discuss about how they keep the show and performance process fresh for themselves, which led to the duo explaining how their roles within the ensemble are a more set and defined thing.

“We are essentially reactors to every single situation as it happens on stage. We show the audience how they should be responding to the situation.” Fisher explains.

“I don’t mean this in the wrong way, but because we’re sort of less directly in the audiences eye, we’re not the focus. If you’ve got a photo, we are kind of the background details, we kind of colour the stage.”

“We make up what wouldn’t be there if you just had the main focus points.”


 

"We are essentially reactors to every single situation as

it happens on stage. If you've got a photo, we are kind

of the background details, we kind of colour the stage...

We make up what wouldn't be there if you just had

the main focus points."


 

“It’s a tricky one,” Ribi elaborates, “Because when you’re the lead, if you’re playing Donna or Sophie or one of the dads, you can direct a line differently, you can try something or act in a different way.”

“Our job as ensemble and as dancers is to do exactly the same thing every night and not to sway from that, because we have a very specific track and a very specific job. We work almost as one unit as opposed to an individual, so we can’t change our opinion on something because that would mean everyone else has to.”

It’s a level of discipline and precision which rings true when watching the entire company warm up for the show later on that evening. For the unacquainted, the image is a slightly bizarre, almost comedic, one - a host of actors and performers on stage walking around the show’s signature Taverna set, practising their scales, humming to themselves, stretching, impressively belting out a few bars of ‘Ave Maria’ before collectively embarking on a brief cardiovascular routine. 

Yet amidst it all, the tour’s resident dance captain Jamie Wilkin has notes for his ensemble - there is some inconsistency in footwork and head turning going on during the show’s Act I closer, ‘Voulez-Vous’, which needs to be addressed.

“It’s important - the choreography from the first year has changed a little bit, but with this show, we always sell it on always being the same,” Wilkin explains afterwards.

“When we are bringing it back to the UK, I think it’s important to take care that it’s absolutely tip-top. It has to be just as good - if not better than - the London production, so for us from a creative point of view it has to be absolutely spot-on.”

And with such an admirable level of discipline and perfectionism in place, one can’t help but wonder if the shadow of monotony ever creeps in, even with a show of such joy and bonhomie as this. Back with David and Jacob, the duo elaborate on how the touring process in and of itself is an important part of averting any creative or performance fatigue.


 

See David, Jacob and company in rehearsal earlier this year for the 'Mamma Mia' UK Tour.


 

“I suppose it is a struggle to keep is fresh,” Ribi explains, “because that is just naturally a very difficult thing to do when you’re on stage 8 times a week for a year. But I think the nice thing about being on tour is there are so many different things to do.”

“When you’re doing a job in [London] it’s literally your job. You know you’re going to turn up at six, go home at ten, you don’t usually go for a drink with your castmates afterwards because you don’t have to. You don’t live with them, you go do your normal day.”

“When you’re on tour you kind of live on a holiday in a way, so you just kind of find excitements every day as opposed to just waking up and going to work. That keeps it fresh.”

And when they aren’t off exploring the whims and fancies of their current touring spot, other more tried and tested methods of keeping each other entertained have become part of the fabric - from games of Solitaire in the wings to even a spot of Cards Against Humanity secretly on-stage!

“There’s a bit when all the ensemble walk on in the beginning, and about a ten minute scene where you’re introduced to the characters, and we’re all on stage but we’re behind the wall,” Ribi begins, a slightly anticipatory cheekiness spreading across his face.

“So you couldn’t see us!” Fisher is quick to clarify.

“And we used to play Cards Against Humanity behind the truck”, Ribi continued, “We’d be sat there giggling and laughing, making sure nobody could hear! That got us through for a while.”


 

"We're all on stage but we're behind the wall... and

we used to play Cards Against Humanity behind the

truck... we'd be sat there giggling and laughing,

making sure nobody could hear!"


 

And of course, there is always the unexpected joy of a cover going on, or unexpected mistakes happening during the course of the show, which Ribi explains throws a welcome twist to proceedings:

“There’s been times where you come running on stage to do ‘Lay All Your Love’ and find you’ve got a banana lying there [from the scene before] and you’ve got to hide it somewhere in your wet suit because it can’t go anywhere else!”

“So you’ve got a banana in your arm pit and are dancing around on stage in huge flippers. There’s little challenges like that which you don’t expect but which lighten up the show and you have a great time because something’s happened that you’ve been able to fix.”

It’s all indicative of an upbeat, positive ‘laddishness’ that continues to be prevalent even as we continue backstage into the pair’s dressing room, which they share with fellow male ensemble members, as well as Louis Stockil and Sam Robinson, who plays bar tenders Pepper and Eddie, repsectively, in the show.

The expected hustle and bustle and pre-show mayhem one may anticipate is non-existent here; a casual, laid-back and easygoing atmosphere is at root. On the far wall, a mounted TV is currently airing a Women’s football match, whilst underneath a PS4 sits proudly as one of the real focal points of the communal dressing room.

“We probably should have made the effort to clean up!” Fisher jokes as we enter.


 

Stourbridge News:

David, Jacob and the company of 'Mamma Mia' performing 'Money, Money, Money' in the show.


 

Everywhere, at the risk of sounding a touch stereotypical, the room paints itself again as a typical portrait of how one may expect a group of young men to get ready together on a daily basis. Clothes are strewn here and there, dressing tables littered with a menagerie of effects and personals. It feels lived in. Real. Bar a handful of congratulatory cards and messages, there is little trace of any overt theatricality or pomposity. 

It’s an attitude very consciously welcomed and sought out by the creatives behind Mamma Mia - the show and it’s stewards keen to cast appropriately when it comes to their ‘lads’. 

As Jamie Wilkin explained, this often leads to a thoroughly entertaining and memorable casting process:

“We’re always looking for really ‘laddy’ lads for this show.”

“When we are casting, they have to come and sit down and, with a partner, tell their worst stories of a night out or a stag do. I can honestly say since I first started, telling my own story back in 2002, that every year it’s always more and more graphic!”

“They really get into it and try and act them out, because they really want the job. It’s good fun but sometimes you wonder how far they’re going to go with this; you’re sat there going ‘no, no, no, don’t take your top off… yeah, they’re going for it’”

“We sometimes have one of the team stand there as the female character Tanya in the show, and the boys have to impress her, and it’s gone to the stage where they’ve picked her up, they’ve danced around her taking their clothes off, they’ve gone to take their trousers off and we’ve had to tell them to calm down, but it’s only because they’re all competing against each other to try and get a job.”


 

"That's the lovely thing about this job actually...

there are no 'celebrities'. No Z-listers playing any

of the characters. Everyone who is in this, the

reason that they got the job is because they

were good for the part."


 

It’s a testimony to this authenticity, then, that the show is routinely praised for the calibre of its casting choices. There’s a real sense both when watching the show and also chatting with its cast and crew, that getting the perfect people for the roles is one the driving forces behind the entire show.

“Absolutely. That’s the lovely thing about this job actually,” Ribi cites, “There are no ‘celebrities’. No Z-listers playing any of the characters. Everyone who is in this, the reason that they got the job is because they were good for the part.”

“I’d love to see a proper iconic actor that the mainstream public would recognise be able to sing a song and act it just as well as if it were a monologue,” Fisher adds.

It’s a state of affairs sadly becoming more and more prominent in the theatre world, as Wilkin laments:

“It’s a shame because new stuff is struggling, but in a lot of places, musicals are hard sells unless they’ve got a name attached.”

And Ribi believes the modernisation of light entertainment must foot some of the blame for this.

“I think a lot of it, in modern day, personally, is down to things like The X Factor and talent shows where, as soon as you don’t win it, you still become the lead in a musical.”

“There’s no grit or integrity in it. When you’ve got a Girls Aloud member playing the lead in a show you know there’s a good chance it’s not necessarily going to be as good or as high quality as it would have been with someone who has trained for six years in dancing, singing and acting.”


 

Stourbridge News:

Some of the fabulous hats, props and accessories on show in the 'backstage village' - ready to be grabbed and put on when needed during the show.


 

“On Broadway it’s totally different - on Broadway if you can act, sing and dance then you are the elite. It’s just a shame it’s the other way round here, I think.”

“But I guess, like anything,” Wilkin concludes, “Producers are scared to risk money, and Mamma Mia is one of the only surefire things that’s selling out there.”

“and The Lion King!” adds Company Manager Ben Jefferson lightly. 

Taking us on a guided tour around Mamma Mia’s ‘backstage village’, complete with a plethora of sumptuously technicolor wigs, hats, frocks and even a small merry band of secrets not allowed to be photographed or divulged, Jefferson told us how in November he will inherit the title of longest standing member of this particular production, having been involved with it for now seven years. 

“It all happens like clock now. It’s very bizarre how this has been going on for so long and yet we never have an entirely new team. Whenever we lose someone there’s always someone else there to carry on.”

With such an impressive tenure on the show, Jefferson has seen Mamma Mia taken to a dizzying breadth of Countries and venues, and he’s quick to sing the praises of its current residence at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

“We’ve played all sorts of places - ice rinks, football pitches, badminton courts, basketball courts. Even a bull ring in Lisbon - that was great fun.”

“We bring everything with us, down to our washing machines and dryers, so this venue… it’s a dream.”


 

"We've played all sorts of places - ice rinks,

football pitches, badminton courts,  basketball 

courts. Even a bull ring in Lisbon... this venue, 

it's a dream."


 

And just how universal is the show, and the seminal classics of ABBA? During his time on the show and during it’s international forays, Jefferson discusses how he has seen a real kaleidoscope of responses to the piece, including a particularly memorable regal crowd:

“I remember we took it to Bangkok and the King and Queen came to see the show, and they sat in the front row of the Dress Circle. Nobody in the audience would clap or applaud until they started to.”

“And obviously it’s a show where everyone is on their feet dancing at the end of the show, but they wouldn’t stand up until the King and Queen did, at which point then everyone else could stand up.”

“It’s like in Korea,” Wilkin adds, “we were there for nearly 6 months, and they don’t know whether they’re allowed to be emotional in front of their family, because it’s not the done thing. You see them throughout the piece get gradually more involved.”

“And when you get to the bedroom section in the second act with the mother, and daughter, you can see they are sort of allowing themselves to go with it, so when you get to the finale the odd person would stand up, so then again they would feel that it’s ok to be emotional and dance with everyone. It is allowed.”

“I guess it’s just different Nations have had different theatre etiquette for different amounts of time.”


 

Stourbridge News:

Just some of the hundreds of costumes hung in the wings ready for an

evening performance of 'Mamma Mia'.


 

It’s hardly surprising to hear of such an array of responses and reactions to show, seeing as how it has now been seen by over 60 million people worldwide across 50 productions and in 16 different languages. And yet, from Bangkok to Birmingham, from the United States to the show’s first Nationwide tour here in the United Kingdom, the love of the music of ABBA and the joyous show it has prompted seems as feverish as ever.

“Everyone knows ABBA,” Fisher adds, after explaining how he grew up listening to their music thanks to his mom being a particularly ardent fan.

“I was in South Africa and I went shopping and looking around the shops,” tells Fiona Whitehouse, the show’s Deputy Wardrobe Mistress, “and then ‘Honey, Honey’ came on. I was like, no! I’m going shopping!”

“But I think whatever show you’re on, the song’s always seem to be on.”

“That can get a bit monotonous, but then when you hear the audience at the end every night, it’s like ‘awww that’s great’. It’s worth it.”

Rounding of a fascinating, insightful and vibrant trip behind the scenes of such a mammoth production, I was thrilled to get to sit down and watch the evening performance and see the show all over again, only this time with a slightly more informed eye. Still, with that being said, I heard no behind-the-walls giggling at Cards Against Humanity, failed to catch any glimpse of stray on-stage bananas, and any choreography sloppiness was decidedly lost on my two left eyes. 

What was apparent, however, was all of the same fun, spirit and energy not only from first seeing the show earlier in it’s Birmingham run, but also all of the passion, warmth and often overlooked detail and colour that my trip backstage had helped highlight - from ensemble to principle, seamstress to stage manager. 

Fisher’s analogy of ‘colouring’ the stage rang particularly true.

And, if Fiona cited the show’s rousing finale and curtain call as the big ‘it’s all worth it’ moment, then once again Birmingham crowd’s did not disappoint, with practically everyone in the audience up on their feet and clapping, bopping and swaying along to ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Waterloo’.


 

"It's what's lovely about this tour, we get to be

somehwere for a long time... We can happily

sit in Birmingham for ten weeks, and we know

that our last week is going to be just as strong

and busy as our last."


 

David Ribi’s earlier words about the excitement and passion for the show also came back to me as I left the packed venue now seven weeks into its run.

“It’s what's lovely about this tour, we get to be somewhere for a long time. A lot of these tours that run and run and run, they can only run for like a week here and there because they won’t sell any more tickets than that.” 

“Whereas we can happily sit in Birmingham for ten weeks, and we know that our last week is going to be just as strong and busy as our last.”

Yes, the sun is shining in Birmingham. And, whilst in typical British style that may not last particularly long, there’s still a few weeks good weeks of Summer left to savour the inimitable feel-good sun, sand and spirit of Mamma Mia.


 

- Kyle Pedley


 

Mamma Mia runs at the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre until Saturday 3rd September 2016. The UK Tour continues on to the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton.

For more information and to book your tickets for the show's run at the Hippodrome, click HERE.

For the show's official site, and more information on future dates and venues, click HERE.