‘Mamma Mia!’ Actress Revels In 25th Anniversary Of Musical
‘Mamma Mia!’ Actress Revels In 25th Anniversary Of Musical
By Tia Carol Jones
Jalynn Steele’s theater bug started with her singing in the church choir, performing in Vacation Bible School skits and Easter plays. During high school, she performed in shows and participated in theater competitions. She decided to major in musical theatre in college. Her first professional gig was performing in “Ain’t Misbehavin’” at the Great Caruso Theatre in Houston, while she was still in college.
Ever since then, it has been a growing love and passion of Steele’s that she has been fortunate enough to do again and again. Steele is playing Tanya in “Mamma Mia!” Steele describes her character as the “tell-it-like-it-is” friend.
“Mamma Mia!” tells the story of Sophie and her mother Donna who live on a Greek Island. Sophie is set to marry Sky and decides to invite three men who could be her father to her wedding. Tanya is Donna’s friend and former Dynamo bandmate.
“She’s been married three times, so she’s been around the block a time or two, but she’s also a very classy individual as well,” Steele said about her character.
To prepare for the role, Steele got in the mood of friendship, because that is Tanya’s ultimate goal, to show her steadfast friendship and love for Donna. Tanya is there for Donna during her time of need as they go through this adventure.
Steele played the role before in 2017 at Beef and Board Dinner Theatre in Indianapolis. When they held auditions for the National Tour, Steele decided to audition. This is the 25th Anniversary of Mamma Mia!. It premiered in the West End in London in 1999. It features the music of Swedish pop group ABBA. It went to Broadway in 2001.
Steele said her favorite song from the musical is “Knowing Me, Knowing You, which is performed by Sam, one of the potential fathers. She said it is a good vibe, and a slight earworm so it gets caught in her head. In the Broadway Chicago production, Sam is played by Victor Wallace. Steele hopes the audience enjoys the performance.
“I hope they take-away what the story has been about, it’s a story of female empowerment, it’s a story of love, it’s a story of friendship, it’s multigenerational,” she said. Steele added that mothers and daughters come to the show together and each person finds a character on the stage who they relate to and reflects how they fit into their life.
Steele said that while people know the music of ABBA to be very poppy and upbeat, Act 2 has a lot of emotional music, and it is meant to pull at the heartstrings. She said there is a good mix of laughter and sadness, and she hopes the audience takes away all of those elements.
“It’s a wonderful diverse cast, it’s a beautiful story told and it’s a Mamma Mia like you’ve never seen before,” Steele said.
Mamma Mia! is at the JamesM. Nederlander Theatre, located at 24 W. Randolph, until May 19th. To purchase tickets, visit www.broadwayinchicago.com.
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