Cappies Review: 'Mamma Mia!' At Osbourn Park High School

By Thomas Gay of Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology

Smell that? It's salt filling the warm air of the Greek coast. And look past the white stucco walls churns the sea. The sun reflects back onto the buildings and ripples past the blue glass mosaics. Here, on this remote island, Osbourn Park whisks us into a dizzying barrage of love and regret in Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! is a heartwarming musical with a simple message: we should treasure all the love we have, in any form in which it may come. The story follows Sophie, a graceful young woman about to marry the love of her life. Sophie's biggest dream is to have her dad at her wedding to give her away. Only one problem: she's never known her father and must figure out which of her mother's three former lovers is truly her dad. Osbourn Park brought this show to the stage with such vigor that the auditorium itself began to feel warm and breezy, like a summer day by the sea.

Sophie's fiery mother Donna (Alejandra Velez Ocasio) captivated the audience with her seductive voice. In the light, poppy airs of Super Trouper, she and her silver jumpsuit glittered like a rhinestone as she warbled. Later, in her high, clear belts on 'The Winner Takes It All', where Donna was forced to contend with the pain of a lost love, her voice shook with an imperceptible regret. And all the while, she carried herself like a true mother. Velez Ocasio treated the stage as though it truly were her own, from leaving it all on the dance floor in the technicolor anthem Dancing Queen, to literally sweeping the floor in the pumping pop song Mamma Mia!

Donna wouldn't have been complete without her best friends Tanya (Essence Harrison) and Rosie (Zoe Manning) by her side. Whenever the three of them were on stage together, Donna and her Dynamos sparkled like three gemstones set into the same ring. They laughed and sang together, enrapturing the audience with perfectly tuned harmonies in 'Dancing Queen,' when hairbrushes and bedspreads turned into microphones and velvet. But Harrison and Manning weren't just two comedic dynamos. In 'Chiquitita', they showed the audience how much they truly cared for Donna, as they held her in their arms and cared for her.

The world of Mamma Mia! was brought to life with their sprawling set. Built with high walls, and studded with bricks and glass, the Villa Donna, created by Ayden Pantavong, Jonathan Salazar, and Jay Welch, drew the audience in with open arms. Ivy sprawled in the hot sun, reflecting off the cool white walls, and crawled around the wooden windows and bright blue doors. The costumes, by Isabelle Manning and Madison Reynolds, further soaked the stage in realism, consisting of over 180 pieces, many of which were hand made, sewn, or altered. The lacy and bright wedding dresses seemed almost from a fairytale, and at the end, the Dynamos' final jumpsuits were so bright and colorful that they became tropical fish in the cool blue world.

Osbourn Park's Mamma Mia! whirled across the stage like a warm gust of wind, leaving the audience breathless and dazzled.