Residents@JV

'Mamma Mia'

Towards the end of each school year when Spring-Fever is in the air, local schools and national touring theatre companies present musical productions to showcase their talents. It’s that time of year again and Ann Coy, resuming her mission to provide culture for the Jacob’s Village residents, is arranging a musical slice of life. Ann’s once a month activity for the residents in February had them on an outing that found them at The Centre in Downtown Evansville Sunday, Feb. 25 at 2:00pm. Old National Bank of Evansville sponsored ‘Mamma Mia!!!’ A Broadway Smash Hit Musical based on the ten year career-catalog of songs from ABBA, a 70’s Pop-Rock-Disco band from Sweden. All the residents were fans of ABBA when their dance music first crossed the Atlantic Ocean and hit the radio airwaves during the Summer of ’74. Through the weeks with their own CD collection, the residents were getting reacquainted with the ABBA tunes. The Jacob’s Village bunch of Debbie, Michael, Scott, and home coordinator Joe arrived in downtown EVV as a steady light rain was coming down. Joe pulled the van up to the front door of The Centre, every one got out, rushed in while he found a place to park. The Jacob’s Village bunch met Ann, Wanda, Mike, who were previously picked up by Ann, and Patty, a friend of hers from the Rehab Center, in the lobby about 1:45pm. The lobby was full of people scurrying around, venders selling ABBA souvenirs, CD’s, DVD’s, 70’s paraphernalia, and $10:00 program’s…had to have a program. Hoping not to leave anyone behind, everyone stayed close and in single file order while weaving through the crowd in the lobby and down the corridor. The auditorium was filling up quickly when the Jacob’s Village bunch was shown to their VIP seats in the middle of the room right below the balcony. Good seats they were, not too close, not too far away, plenty of elbow room, they were just right. This production of ‘Mamma Mia’ had an amusing script for a story; a large cast of good actors, dancers, singers, and outstanding music from a little nine-piece band being directed down in the orchestra pit. It sounded like more, but this live band consisted of four keyboards, three guitars, two lead with one bass, and a set of drums and percussion. Reading the reviews prior to show time, it was noted that the audience was always out of their seats dancing in the aisles for the two encore finales of ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘Dancing Queen’. No stretch of the imagination here, ‘Mamma Mia’ lived up to its billing of a feel-good, have a nice day type of show. Every one of the approximately 1,100 people in attendance for this two-hour show was in a good mood and left with a smile on their face. A rockin’ good time was had by all and anticipating future musicals to attend. Jacob’s Village sends out a big heart thank you to Ann for arranging for them to see such good musicals.

posted by J V Resident Blog @ 10:12 AM