IU alumnus returns with 'Mamma Mia!' tour

Two days after arriving in New York City, 2005 IU graduate Colin Donnell auditioned for the national tour of "Mamma Mia!" Donnell said he read from a couple of scenes in the show for the part of Sky.\nIn the meantime, he was cast in an off-broadway production called "Almost Heaven: Songs of John Denver," a tribute to Denver's life and music.\n"The day after they announced my other show was ending -- that Monday, I got a call from 'Mamma Mia!' asking me to come in one week," Donnell said.\nDonnell is a chorus member and the understudy for Sky in the musical's national tour, which happens to be making a stop at his alma mater.\n"Mamma Mia" will open at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the IU Auditorium and continue through April 16. Performances begin at 8 p.m., with two additional performances April 15 and 16 at 2 p.m. \n"It's really fun," Donnell said. "It's one of the first of that genre of taking pop music and putting it into a show."\nAs a chorus member, Donnell is on stage for six or seven songs, he said. The show also uses live back-up vocals that he sings backstage in vocal booths.\n"We never need the dressing rooms," he said. "We change in the booths backstage. Sometimes we hang out and sing in robes."\nA typical day for Donnell begins with sleeping in until mid-morning, he said. Then he works out and gets some food.\n"If we don't have rehearsal, I like to explore the city we're in," he said. "I just walked out of a museum on Omaha, (Neb.,) a train museum. It's an old train depot. I like to walk around."\nDonnell has toured with the ABBA-based musical for three months now.\nOther cast members come and go. Donnell said some have been touring for four years.\nRobert Pendilla plays Pepper in "Mamma Mia!" and has been on tour for 18 months.\n"Pepper is the island joke," Pendilla said. "Everyone likes to make fun of him but loves him."\nPendilla said that show is about learning to value things that are often taken for granted.\nA daughter returns home to her mother's outrageous island resort to get married and learns to value her mother, he said.\nAudiences typically love the music more than the message, Pendilla said.\n"You don't even have to pay attention to the story," he said. "You can make fun of it while you're watching it. It's ABBA."\nHe said one song seems to get more attention than the rest.\n"'Dancing Queen' -- who hasn't sung it at a karaoke bar or in your bathroom?" he said.\nDonnell said at the end of every show he is surprised to see the audience members up on their feet dancing.\n"It's really crazy," he said.\nThis will be Donnell's first musical theater performance in the IU Auditorium.\n"I can't wait," he said. "I have so many friends who are still back there."\nIU professor of stage movement and musical theater George Pinney said he remembers Donnell as an excellent musical theater student at IU who played lead roles.\n"Colin is a true artist," he said. "It will be a great thrill to see (him) on the professional stage"