“Mamma Mia” is a big, fun musical based on the songs of Swedish pop band ABBA.If you go
› What: “Mamma Mia.”› When: 7 p.m. Sunday, April 24.› Where: Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave.› Admission: $33.50-$58.50.› Phone: 1-800-514-3849.› Website: www.ChattanoogaOnStage.com.
Like a lot of people, Ryan Hunt remembers being more than a little surprised when he heard there was a plan to base a stage musical on songs by Swedish pop band ABBA.
It wasn’t that Hunt had a dislike for ABBA. He liked their catchy melodies as much as the next person, but their songs were hardly known for their depth.
“I was a little shocked when I heard,” he says. “I had a good friend who was actually in the cast, and I remember when he told me, I was like, ‘What? They’re making a musical based on whose music?'”
Even years later, when the opportunity to audition for a part came up, Hunt, a professional actor living in New York, was hoping something a little meatier, maybe something by Shakespeare or Anton Chekhov, would come along.
And then he got the part of Bill Lawson, a travel writer who is one of the possible fathers of the soon-to-be-married Sophie. And now he couldn’t be happier.
“I am a ‘Mamma Mia’ convert,” he says with a laugh. “I love it. At the very least, it is just good fun and very fulfilling. There are actually several of us in the cast that are converts.”
Hunt, 36, has been with the musical, which will be presented Sunday, April 24, at Memorial Auditorium, since October. He has done primarily regional musical and dramatic theater since graduating from the University of Evansville in Indiana. This is his first large-scale national touring show.
“If you had told me I’d be doing this a year ago, I would have laughed,” he says, “but it is so much fun.”
“Mamma Mia” has been presented as both a musical production and a film. The latter, released in 2008, starred Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan. Hunt has the role played by Stellan Skarsgard in the film.
The musical opened in Toronto in 2000. It was written in part by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA, though it was originally conceived by producer Judy Craymer, who became one of England’s wealthiest women because of the success of the show.
It is the story of a young woman about to be married on a Greek island. On the eve of her wedding, she invites three men from her mother’s past in hopes of discovering which of the three is her father.
Its music includes the title track, of course, as well as “Super Trouper,” “Lay All Your Love on Me,” “Dancing Queen,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “Take a Chance on Me,” “Thank You for the Music,” “Money, Money, Money,” “The Winner Takes It All” and “Voulez-Vous.”
“I actually think the musical is better,” Hunt says. “It is told differently. It is just so much fun for the cast and for the audience.”
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.