HIDDEN DEPTH? ABBA-SOLUTELY
Hit musical’s leading lady calls every show a gut-wrenching ‘huge journey’
By MARK ARNEST THE GAZETTE

It’s no secret that “Mamma Mia!,” the ABBA musical that visits the Pikes Peak Center next week, is more fun than a barrel of disco-dancing monkeys.

There’s the hit-filled score, containing such pop favorites as “Dancing Queen,” “The Winner Takes It All,” and “Waterloo.” There’s the humorously convoluted plot, devised years after the songs were written, as a way to get the Swedish supergroup’s music onto the stage.

But Laurie Wells, who plays Donna in the touring production, loves the show for another reason: Its depth.

A show that’s been called the fluffiest diversion ever to prance its way onto the stage —
depth?

No, really, says Wells, whose character is a single mom whose daughter is on the eve of marriage.

“My character and my journey is crazy deep,” she says. “For me, every night is so intense. I go through a huge journey in the show.”

It starts with “that great mother/daughter relationship,” says Wells. “It’s about letting go, about letting Sophie grow up and live her own life.”

In addition, she says, “there’s the theme of heartbreak, leaving someone I loved greatly.” She’s referring to one of the three possible fathers who Sophie, unbeknownst to Donna, has invited to the wedding. (See? We said the plot was convoluted.)

“It’s dramatic for me as any other drama I’ve done — and I’ve done a lot of musicals,” says Wells.

Another strength is ABBA’s much-maligned lyrics.

“The lyrics are so great,” she says. “They just roll off the tongue. I can say them like dialogue, yet people are dancing in the aisles.”

Their simplicity is also a plus in the theater. “They get to the base of the emotion,” says Wells, “but they come across so strong.”

Wells understudied the part of Donna for two years before taking it full-time. She was in the role when the company visited Denver last year as part of the Denver Center’s season.

“I do it eight times a week, almost 52 weeks a year, and I find something new every night,” she says. “There’s something about it that stays really fresh.”

So it’s not boredom but intensity that’s motivated her plans to leave the show in a few months.

“If I could physically do another year or two, I would,” she says. “But I sing 12 songs. It’s a lot of emotion, and Donna is anxiety-ridden the whole show.”

Donna’s anxiety isn’t transmitted to any of the other characters — or to the audience that’s made “Mamma Mia” an international hit. The Broadway production is going strong after more than seven years; the Las Vegas production just announced that it will close — after 2,500 performances — in 2008.

The show’s success is no mystery to Wells.

“There’s something for everyone to relate to,” she says. “There are these comedic characters, the story is very funny, and the lyrics evoke a lot of things that everybody has felt.

“It’s spectacular.”