FORT KENT, Maine — Fort Kent’s theater program normally doesn’t put on two musicals a year, but later this month they’re going to make an exception with “Mamma Mia!” as about half a dozen musically gifted seniors are set to graduate in June.
For each school year, the program normally puts on three plays — a musical, a one-act play that is entered into a competition, and a non-musical. For this school year, the program did a high school adaptation of “Chicago” and the program’s one-act play was an adaptation of “The Funeral Makers,” an adaptation of Fort Kent native Cathie Pelletier’s hit novel.
But instead of ending the school year with a non-musical play, Theater Director Doug Clapp said they decided to go with another musical due to several talented singers graduating.
“They’re all graduating,” Clapp said. “And one of the girls always wanted to do ‘Mamma Mia!’ so I said ‘What the heck, let’s do “Mamma Mia.”’”
Clapp said it was clear early on that the outgoing group had plenty of vocal talent.
“By their sophomore year, it was clear that this was going to be a great singing group,” he said.
It won’t be the first time the program has had two musicals in a year. According to Clapp, during this group’s sophomore year, they were torn on which musical to perform, “Grease” or “Guys and Dolls.” And while it looked like “Guys and Dolls” was going to win by a small margin, Clapp said they decided to also perform “Grease” because of the strong support for it, and also in remembrance of Olivia Newton John, who had just died that year.
He said the program usually opts for both a musical and non-musical to showcase different types of acting talent. And while musicals typically bring in the biggest crowds, a non-musical play like “Dracula” gives students who don’t like singing an opportunity to participate.
“In years past, we had a group of kids that loved drama and loved the competition play, but they wouldn’t join the musicals because they didn’t see themselves as singers,” he said.
While this is not the first time the program has had two musicals in a year, it will be the first time that the students do their own choreography. Clapp said a couple girls in the program had taken dance classes and asked to choreograph the songs.
“I said ‘If you can do it and it looks like it’s working good,’ then we’ll go with it, and it has been working good,” he said. “They’re really piecing it all together.
The play features the music of Abba, and includes about 17 musical numbers. Clapp said anyone familiar with Abba will recognize the band’s big hits, but there are also some more introspective songs that people may not be as familiar with.
The cast includes about 15 students, which Clapp said is pretty evenly split between boys and girls. Students from Madawaska and Wisdom high schools are also participating. Clapp said a student who graduated last year will also return for a role in the play.
The play will be performed four times at the University of Maine at Fort Kent Fox Auditorium. It is set for Thursday, May 29 and Friday, May 30 at 7 p.m. It will be shown at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 31. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for students.
