“Sometimes If only from the funny tricks of time,” a wistful Donna Sher >Mamma Mia! that I could freeze the picture and save it. In a real method, Donna got her wish. The bride that is joyful become an enduring emblem of this jukebox musical, harnessing its exuberant power for more than 25 years.
The girl ranks one of the white mask associated with the Phantom associated with the Opera, the mystical yellowish eyes of Cats, and Wicked’s tight-lipped green woman as perhaps one of the most familiar Broadway logos, but she’s a particular distinction: She’s maybe not the development of a visual designer; she’s a genuine girl whose unbridled laugh was captured on movie.
A tweet that went viral earlier this present year distribute the unaltered photograph, which was indeed this contact form recently unearthed and provided in a ABBA fan group on Facebook. A few theater enthusiasts—from performers to field players to Mamma Mia! superfans—fueled the discourse, expressing their shock within the development, nevertheless the question stayed: that is she?
Therefore just like Sophie devised her very own plan in pursuit of paternity-related answers, we attempt to find her tale.
Here’s everything we discovered.
VERY FIRST: Why the Bride?
Before we explore who the bride is, we ought to first realize her extremely presence.
The key that is original might have centered on Donna (this woman is the lead, most likely) while the Dynamos. It may have emphasized the show’s draw that is recognizable ABBA. It might are making the enchantment regarding the Greek islands the focus. However, Sophie had been constantly the crux associated with the show’s placement.
“Highlighting the Mamma Mia!, Italian for My Mother. The storyline ended up being Sophie’s,” explains Lewis Macleod, creator associated with studio Tangerine, which served as art manager for the show’s marketing—before there was clearly a good show to promote: “This procedure started before there is even a script set up.”
Macleod and advertising manager Richard McCabe d >Cats and Miss Saigon,” describes Macleod, “so we wished to move outside that.”
Eventually, they landed in the now immediately identifiable shot of Sophie throwing her return in unrestrained joy. But let’s arrive at it: Where’d she is found by them?
THEORY A: It’s the Original Sophie!
The idea is sensible. Logos often pull through the show’s talent—think Chita Rivera in Kiss for the Spider lady, Laura Bell Bundy in Legally Blonde, or (almost all of) Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele in Spring Awakening. Seldom performs this creative art remain exactly the same after the performer isn’t any longer because of the show, but it is maybe perhaps not unusual.
So could it be Lisa Stokke, whom played Sophie whenever Mamma Mia! premiered in London’s West end up in 1999?
“i usually state it is me personally, clearly,” she claims. “For the longest time, my niece moved around telling everyone, ‘That’s my Aunt Lisa.’ But i recently allow her state that.”
They do share a likeness, but alas, Stokke is certainly not our secret bride. Nevertheless, the image has unique meaning for the Norwegian performer, because it reminds her of her very own pleased times within the costume.
“I got prepared behind the phase while Siobhan McCarthy ended up being singing ‘The Winner Takes It All,’” she claims. “that is once I got my bridal dress on. We heard that song each night, and that ended up being certainly one of my favorite moments. We simply had a excellent time, also it had been such a confident show to become a part of.”
THEORY B: It’s Jenn Gambatese!
One or more individual chimed in alleging that the secret bride is the one and only Broadway veteran Jenn Gambatese. This will make less feeling than Theory the, thinking about the art ended up being circulating before an innovative new York engagement had been even yet in the cards. Nevertheless, together with her title constantly showing up, we chose to ask.
“No, it is really not me personally.”
Oh, OK then. But why do individuals think oahu is the college of Rock and Tarzan celebrity? The storyline begins with all the auditions that are final the Broadway manufacturing. “I became in callbacks. I’d gotten right down to the last three to be Sophie,” she claims. “I became bummed i did not obtain it, but I became in Reefer Madness.”
She didn’t book Mamma Mia!, but that did not stop her from telling Reefer Madness audiences she booked the Mamma Mia! logo design inside her Playbill bio. Offered the tone associated with the show, the cast considered joke that is doing, but after some wire-crossing, Gambatese had been certainly one of just 2 or 3 to check out through.
“I remember it saying something similar to, ‘After posing for the poster for Mamma Mia!, Jennifer really was grateful Reefer Madness arrived a-calling. She done popularity, she done Footloose, she done need an innovative new agent.’ Footloose director Walter Bobbie found start to see the show and don’t understand that I happened to be joking and I also think he had been offended. I wound up delivering him a message.”
She’s got since eliminated the false claim to popularity from her bio. Phew.