Mamma Mia… BLOC is back!

IT’S hard to know who is more excited in the lead up to the Ballarat Light Opera Company’s production of Mamma Mia, cast or the community?

Approaching two years in the making, the production will fill Her Majesty’s Theatre with Abba’s best hits and BLOC vice-president Carly Macdonald said the company is excited to return to the iconic venue.

“[The] people of BLOC really love that theatre and love the energy that we can gather from the audiences in that theatre,” she said.

“It’s special for Ballarat to be opening Her Majesty’s again and having really big audiences in and having a local production.”

Auditions for the show began in May 2019 with curtains scheduled to open the following year, but the company were forced to halt production during COVID-19 lockdowns.

“Our cast continued to rehearse remotely where possible and then we waited for a little bit to see what would happen with COVID and what restrictions were happening,” Ms Macdonald said.

“Then as it got to about June in 2020 we thought ‘hm this is probably bigger than we anticipated’ and we had to really put a pause on what we were doing.”

The stage is now set however for May 12 and leading the cast is Aussie musical star Sarah Kate Landy.

“She’s bringing so much to the rest of the company, the little bits that they’re picking up from her, it’s such a fantastic experience for the rest of the cast to work with her,” Ms Macdonald said.

“We just think particularly even more so now that Mamma Mia is a great production to be bringing to Ballarat because it is so fun and entertaining and the story about family and friendship is really true to everyone at the moment. It’s really a heart-warming story.”

Tickets are expected to sell quickly and people are encouraged to book them early at hermaj.com/events/mammamia.