Del Norte High School to present ‘Mamma Mia!’ musical

The music of ABBA is coming to the Del Norte High stage via the popular musical “Mamma Mia!” that opens next week.

The five performances will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1 plus 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7 and Saturday, Feb. 8 in the Del Norte High School Performing Arts Center, 16601 Nighthawk Lane in 4S Ranch.

Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for adults. Purchase in advance at tix.dntheatre.com or at the door.

The show is rated PG-13 due to adult subject matter and is geared toward high school students and adults, according to Director Stephanie DeYoung. “We keep it light and fun-loving,” she said.

DeYoung said she and the students had discussed performing “Mamma Mia!” for quite some time, but the rights only became available now. “We’re the first school in Poway Unified School District to produce it,” she said.

“It is exciting, fun-loving and an upbeat show where you can’t help but smile whether a fan of ABBA or not,” DeYoung said. “It’s a silly show with a lot of dancing.” The choreographers are Moria Angeline and Greg Good. DeYoung said the audience is welcome to dance at the show’s conclusion.

During “Mamma Mia!” Sophie Sheridan (played by Ashley Reed) plans to marry Sky (Zach Sutherland) in a big, fancy wedding in her small Greek hometown. Though raised only by her mother, Donna (Emma Adamson), Sophie would like her father to walk her down the aisle. The problem — Sophie does not know his identity. Her only clues are her mother’s diary that has passages about three men who could possibly be her father. So she secretly invites Harry (Brandon Wang), Bill (Luke Limberis) and Sam (Jeff Sha), hoping that when they meet she will feel a connection to her biological father.

With her mother’s best friends Tanya (Phoebe Farnsworth) and Rosie (Jillian Smith) coming to the nuptials, there is plenty of fun plus some sentimental moments in store for all. Adding to the excitement are the young couple’s friends, Ali (Natalie Jimenez), Lisa (Natalie Deissl-Gibbs), Pepper (Jack Lee) and Eddie (Dany Yostos) plus Father Alexandrios (Krishna Rajpara).

There are also numerous townspeople, played by Audrynne Antonio, Neve Bajado, Hailey Bunsold, Hana Chohan, Marissa Clopine, Lauren Del Mar, Anne DiPasquale, Ashley Prevost, Bella Genovese, Savvy Greenhall, Katie Lawrence, Arli Lorett, Mana Monshian, Noah Negron, Reica Osawa, Sophia Pinon, Ashley Prevost, Jaymie Purdy, Kennedy Reed, Chloe Roppe, Maya Sanchez, Joshua Sanding, Catherine Santos, Laila Schroeder, Sanika Shahapurkar, Zoe Vogelsang and Emelia Webster.

Jennifer Kitelinger is conducting the orchestra, consisting of student musicians Jaelyn Daluraya and Miguel Fuentes on guitar; Karan Sukheja on electric bass; Jeremy Li, Hannah Nguyen, Maile Pacumio and Nikki Wu on keyboards; Ryo Hasson on drum set plus percussionists Della Trupp and Theo Wang.

DeYoung said the show is possible due to its large technical crew. She called the production a collaborative process in which students run the show. This includes lighting, sound, costuming and set design. One of the biggest challenges was creating and building the taverna, beach and jetty scenes since Del Norte tries to not rent or buy sets. Some projections are also used.

More than 80 students are involved in the production. They include juniors Brooke Lebidine as assistant director and Raven Skidmore as assistant musical director.

This is the second time Lebidine has been assistant director. The experience gives her a different perspective and insights when she acts in other shows because she thinks about acting differently now, she said.

“I’d like to potentially pursue acting … or directing in college,” Lebidine said. “I’m interested in the film industry and experiencing every field here (in show production).”

Skidmore, who said she is considering a career as a choir teacher, helped Ruth Wong (the musical director) work with students on their singing.

“It was an awesome opportunity … to experience that field before college,” Skidmore said of her first time as assistant musical director. “I’m passionate about it. It is cool helping people learn music.”

Other students involved in technical aspects are Alison Hale (stage manager), Sasha Greenhall and Sophia Escala (assistant stage managers), Karis Gilliam (lighting designer), Kathryn Atwood (sound designer), Amber Pucan (set designer), Natalya Brown (costume designer), KB Nguyen (prop master) plus Anika Aluri, Lucas Armenta-Moore, Elijah Bradshaw, Amanda Botts, Lauren Chang, Tyler Cloutier, Melina Farace, Bria Gilliam, Libby Golpariani, Megan Jennings, Christopher Lerum, Elden Manangan, Nicole Martin, Abby McNulty, Ali Quijada, Kendall Reist, Naomi Sanborn, Tovah Shapiro, Anika Sheikh, Alex Sloaterman and Lucky Wayani.