'Mamma Mia' star says yes to former co-star's marriage proposal
By Bruce R. Miller Journal staff writer

Laurie Wells gets married eight times a week in the Broadway touring production of "Mamma Mia!"

So tying the knot in real life "is the last thing I thought I'd ever worry about."

Much like Donna, the free-spirited mother she plays in the ABBA musical, Wells figured she would just be lifelong friends with boyfriend Don Noble.

"First off, he's 42, a confirmed bachelor, and I've never dreamed about a big wedding or a husband. I thought I'd just live my life with a partner and that'd be OK. I always tell him, 'You hit the gold mine with me...you get the best of all worlds.'"

Noble, though, had a different idea. While she was appearing in the show in Mexico City last June, he came to visit. The two went hiking to Teotihuacan and climbed one of the pyramids. "I'm complaining -- 'Honey, it's so hot' -- and when we got to the top, he said, 'Let's sit down.' I said, 'Sure, but do you have any food? I'm starving.' I put my hand out and he put a ring in it. I was shocked."

Wells said yes, put it on and, true to form, said, "Where's the food?" When she went back to the show, she discovered several cast members knew of Noble's plans.

"Immediately, they started asking about the wedding date. That didn't even enter my mind. I was just flattered that an out-of-work actor was buying me a diamond ring."

Wells smiles as she recalls the engagement. She's in Sioux City performing "Mamma Mia" through the weekend. Because she and Noble figure they'll wed sometime after she leaves the show in March, she has given some thought to the ceremony. And, yes, she is making plans.

"It's not going to be a big thing. We'll probably get a beach house near San Diego and invite friends and family."

Casual is key, but since she wears an oh-so-tight wedding gown in the show, she has considered her dress. "I'm going to get a drop-dead gorgeous Vera Wang that's silky AND LOOSE," she says with a laugh. "I want something ivory -- something I could wear to a gala or the Tony Awards."

Since Wells and Noble plan to move to New York in the spring, that's entirely possible. Also an actor, Noble played Sam (one of Donna's three suitors) in the first touring company of "Mamma Mia." The two met while she was an understudy and, she admits, "I just knew I was going to be with him." They became close when she played Donna for some 30 performances. "He left the show and we kept talking." Occasionally, Noble, a Canadian, came to visit and the relationship blossomed.

When Wells moved from understudy to star in 2005, Noble was her biggest cheerleader.

"Yes, I've heard all the things about actors marrying," she says before the question even lands. "But we don't have those kinds of egos. He knows what I do -- that's a great perk marrying an actor -- and he's so supportive. He's totally into my success." If one gets work and the other doesn't, "we're fine with it. I would be thrilled if he worked for two years and I could just rest. I'm exhausted."

"Mamma Mia," she points out, isn't a simple walk in platform shoes. Because she's on stage during much of the show, Wells doesn't have time to rest. The ABBA songs are challenging, too, and the spin she has put on the role isn't the same as her predecessors'.

"What makes it fun are the songs. They're fun to sing...particularly when you see the audience getting into them."

Costume changes, though, can be a little scary. But at the end of the show Wells relies on several dressers to get her out of a mother-of-the-bride dress and into a wedding gown. It takes mere seconds. "I hand off my bouquet, a dresser unzips me, i drop the dress, step into the other one, she zips me up and hands me the bouquet and I'm off."

Some nights those zippers do get stuck and once it didn't zip at all. The upshot: "I didn't do any turns."

Slipping into '70s Spandex is equally challenging. But singing all those ABBA hits can change her disposition immediately.

"If you're in something like 'Les Miz,' people appreciate the show. But with this, the response is immediate. The audience has a good time and I do, too."

She and Sean Allan Krill (who plays the role Noble once had...keep up) share plenty of on-stage kisses. "He's so hot," she says.

But Noble doesn't need to worry. "He's the right man for me."

Need proof? Instead of picking out bridesmaids dresses, she's on the phone with an immigration lawyer trying to figure out what she needs to do to marry a Canadian.

"I had no idea I'd have to figure out that whole Canada/America thing. I'm not a paperwork person. Can't we just get married?"

Consider it one thing "Mamma Mia" never addressed.