Mamma Mia! is Judy Craymer’s ingenious vision of staging the story-telling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs with an enchanting tale of family and friendship unfolding on a Greek island paradise. To date, it has been seen by more than 60 million people in 50 productions in 16 different languages. The movie, starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, is the highest worldwide grossing live-action musical film of all time.
From West End to global phenomenon, the London production of Mamma Mia! has now been seen by more than 10% of the entire UK population. It is one of only five musicals to have run for more than 10 years both on Broadway and in the West End, and in 2011, it became the first Western musical ever to be staged in Mandarin in the People’s Republic of China.
Writer Catherine Johnson’s sunny, funny tale unfolds on a Greek island paradise. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter’s quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother’s past back to the island they last visited 20 years ago and, this summer, the UK tour makes a three week stop at The Brighton Centre – where the cast includes star of stage and screen, Helen Hobson, together with local lad, Rory Maguire who makes a welcome return to perform in his home town…
So Rory, for three weeks this summer you get to come back home.
That’s correct, yes. It’s going to be so wicked. I think it will be very different to be back home instead of working all around the UK. I’ve never had the chance to perform in any of the bigger venues in Brighton before and, of course, the Brighton Centre is the biggest of them all. It’s going to be so much fun.
It’s funny because, when I was cast in the show and I saw Brighton on the tour list it never occured to me to look at which venue, and it was only when one of my friends put a status up on Facebook about the show coming to the Brighton Centre that I knew where it was, and I was absolutely buzzin’. It will be very different for us to perform in such a big venue as well because it’s so different to the theatres that we have performed in before.
…and great for you to be back where it all began.
Yes, I went to The Brighton Academy, which is such a brilliant place to train. I had been doing Amateur Dramatics in Brighton from when I was about 14 to 17 and Stuart Dawes from the Academy saw me in one of the shows and, as it had just opened, he asked me to audition for the college and I didn’t really know anything about drama schools at the time so I just went in for the interview and then auditioned for the college and everything really took off from there.
My parents were a bit sceptical, because the training I was doing was not like a degree course or anything like that, it’s basically a performers apprenticeship really, that’s the way I kind of see it. I did three years there with 48 hours a week of intensive performance training, ballet, jazz, everything like that, and it was just amazing to be able to train like that at home in Brighton. It was very lucky for me, and the college training really has paid off, because they also put me in contact with so many casting directors, agents and choreographers in London. It’s been really great, just wicked.
Was acting something that you had always wanted to do?
I was always really interested in acting, and I did it in the Dorothy Stringer School in Brighton, but I didn’t really get as involved in it as I probably should have. It started properly when one of my friends told me that they were doing a production of Oliver! at the Brighton Theatre Group so I did that when I was about 14 and I really loved the theatre group vibe and the company. I did shows with them until I was 17, and that’s when I really got into it.
What is it like to be a part of the Mamma Mia! company?
It is so much fun. It’s the sort of show that they often talk about when you are in college as the casting bracket for the show is mainly for young lads and young girls so it’s brilliant for getting into straight after graduation. In the ensemble us lads get to play a few different characters like the Greek men who work on the island or the guys at the stag do before Sophie and Sky’s wedding. The other thing is that wherever you go round London you always see it plastered everywhere, because it’s such a huge hit, and it was just something that I always wanted to do.
When I auditioned for it, and then I got the call, it was just amazing and working with these guys is just so much fun. The audiences that we get are so different to the audiences that you get for other shows. They are not at all reserved. Everyone is just having the best time and, at the end for the finale, everyone is up on their feet, having a great time – It’s almost like a pop concert!
The Mamma Mia! UK Tour appears at The Brighton Centre from Tuesday 15th August to Sunday 3rd September with Tuesday to Saturday evening performances at 7.30pm (no shows on Mondays) and 2.30pm matinees on Thursday 17th Aug, Wednesday 23rd and Wednesday 30th Aug, on all Saturdays and, unusally for a big musical, Sunday matinees at 3pm as well. Tickets are priced from £15.00 to £50.00 and can be purchased from www.brightoncentre.co.uk or by calling the box office on 0844 847 1515.