After 26 years of dazzling on stages and screens, Mamma Mia! is back at the Edinburgh Playhouse until 4 January this festive season. I chatted to Dundee-raised Joe Grundy — who plays Sky — about the relationship between the cast, how he approached Sky’s character, and what it means to take such a globally beloved musical back to Scotland.
With high-energy numbers and hen do scenes galore, Mamma Mia! is a party for the audience and actors alike. I ask if the infectious energy on stage reflects a strong bond between the cast. “It’s incredibly close — especially because we’re a touring company, we’re the people that we see all the time […] we’ve become this incredibly close-knit group, which is great. I think [it’s] especially because of the nature of the show — it’s such a fun-filled show.” The party numbers are some of Grundy’s favourites: “You feel like you’re on a night out with the show — you’re at the party, and you feel really involved with it. I remember the first time we did [the end of ‘Voulez-Vous’] in Edinburgh, that reaction from the audience — it was just incredible.”
For a story that’s taken countless forms since the musical premiered in 1999, there remains room for the touring cast to make it their own. “It was very personal to what I guess we thought was right for the characters, even though the show’s been going on for so long. Of course, there are certain set things — but mostly it was us, which felt really freeing to be able to explore that each time.”
With Sky’s character having been embodied numerous times, Grundy’s interpretation of him was not a set, fixed imitation. “It really kind of came to me in the moment. It’s really what the relationship is like between the ‘Sophie’ and the ‘Sky’ […] you’ve got to find that yourselves in the rehearsal room.”
The Sophie-Sky relationship is explored in tense moments which break apart from the party-style atmosphere. From outrageously silly numbers such as ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ to the heartfelt closer ‘I Have A Dream’, I ask how important it is that deeper emotions are explored: “It’s not just a happy relationship the whole time. You see the loving side, you see the sexual side, you see the argument side, you see all of it — and it really brings forward the reality of a relationship.” His chemistry with Lydia Hunt (who plays Sophie) came naturally as they knew each other before rehearsals through mutual friends.
Hunt was not the only friendly face within the cast — Eve Parsons (who plays Lisa) was two years above him when they both studied at the Dance School of Scotland. I ask about how surreal it is for them to be in Mamma Mia! at the same time. “It’s amazing, honestly — it’s always nice when you start a cast and you’ve got other Scottish people there, because there’s not that many of us. […] On the opening night of Edinburgh we got quite emotional, just because it’s the big venue in Scotland – so it felt like an incredible honour to perform on that stage.” With family aplenty coming to watch the show — and several cast members being Scottish — the tour hitting Scottish stages is a moment to remember.
Grundy’s love for musical theatre came from am-dram — he realised it could be a career after seeing his sister in a production of Grease, inspiring him to audition for The Dance School of Scotland. He praises the Scottish theatre scene for its accessibility, talking about the importance of large-scale shows touring across the country: “It’s really a show for everyone, and it’s great that so many audiences can get to see it, and that so many people who necessarily can’t travel to London can see the West End version.”
Grundy is no stranger to Mamma Mia! — being a quarter Swedish, he listened to ABBA in the car constantly growing up. “ABBA and Mamma Mia! have always been a huge part of my life. I went to go watch the West End production when I was about 6 or 7 […] I remember being like that’s incredible.” Being raised not only on the musical but the movies, playing Sky feels like a full-circle moment: “If there was ever any job for me to get!”
The finale medley — in which Grundy notices how the audience never fail to get up and party away alongside the cast — proves the amount of unbridled joy the musical captures. The party energy is for Grundy what makes Mamma Mia! so timeless, with the audience never tired of a well-loved story: “you just feel amazing every time you watch it.”
Photo by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg, courtesy of the Edinbugh Playhouse.