MIDWEST — Growing up, Alisa Melendez would wake up to the Broadway cast recording of “Mamma Mia!” on Saturday mornings. It was her perfect way to kick off the weekend.
Her love of “Mamma Mia!” was passed on to her from her parents.
“My introduction to ‘Mamma Mia!’ was my parents," Melendez said. "It was the first Broadway show they ever saw when they went to New York City together when I was really young. They came back with that soundtrack, and I fell in love with it."
They’d listen to the album on the way to school in the car. She said she remembers her mom blasting “Dancing Queen” and ABBA hits.
Then the movie came into her life. Of course, it was a hit in their San Diego-area household.
Melendez begged her mom to see the show for her 16th birthday in San Francisco.
A few years later, she headed to Pace University to study musical theater. She studied Sophie Sheridan in class but said she never envisioned herself being her favorite character in her favorite show.
“I didn’t think I’d ever get to be Sophie, because I didn’t think I ever looked like what I saw, which is usually — and everything I’ve seen — a shorter, smaller, blonde, white young girl. And that is not what I am. I am about 5’9”, pushing 5’10”, Mexican girlie, Latina woman. I never thought [I could be Sophie] physically, and I thought my tone was different — my vocal sounds,” she explained. “I thought I was just different, but it’s so cool to be in this production I get to be portraying someone I’ve always wanted to play, always looked up to and to see a lot of the cast not resemble what you think of [when you think of] the original cast.”
In fact, just a few weeks ago, Melendez took to the stage as Sophie in the same San Diego theater where she saw “Mamma Mia!” for the first time.
“It means the world. It means everything to little Alisa,” she said.
It means a lot to her family, too, many of whom came to see the show when it was in California. Even though Melendez may not have a short stature and long blonde hair, her family said they saw plenty of Melendez in the main character.
“When I came out, they were like, ‘Alisa, you were just being yourself.’ I have a lot of me in Sophie. I grew up at the beach, in the water, sunshine girl,” she said. “I used to have tan lines on my crow's feet area because all I do is smile in the sun, always. When I think of Sophie, that’s what I think of: joy and an open heart.”
But when it’s strangers waiting at the stage door, sometimes she gets a different reaction.
“Well, it’s funny, I come out of the stage door a lot of times and people are like, ‘I thought you were gonna wear a blonde wig,’ or ‘You don’t have blonde hair. Like, what is it?’ And people are so fixated on one idea, so it’s an honor of mine to break those traditions and to make people question — even if it’s as simple as hair or height, skin, just different — but they still come loving the show,” she said.
She does not shy away from being a catalyst for change and is glad she can cause people to think differently, she said.
“It means the world to honor my culture, honor the other woman who came before me and how they paved the way — maybe not in the arts but in other fields, and how I can do that in musical theater as well, especially something through a phenomenon that is ‘Mamma Mia!’ where people have such a specific idea of what it usually is,” Melendez said.
Standing on the foundation of Mexican and Latina women who came before her, Melendez said she is hopeful for the next generation of Latina actresses.
When asked what she would tell a little girl in the audience who looks like her and wanted to be on stage one day, she had optimistic affirmations to share.
“You can and you will, girl. Keep going. It’s possible, and I think it’s more possible than ever now, because [through] our generation, things are changing. But I think as the younger generation begins to grow and carry their ideas of what they know — we’ve had these ideas for so long and are beginning to change them,” she said.
"Especially as she’s getting older, people like me… are starting to change that for her. And it will just keep going, so I think those opportunities are just becoming more accessible as time goes on. I hope; I pray. And I am fortunate enough to have people above me who made that possible for me as well. So keep going, girl. You’re beautiful, and you deserve to be on stage and be seen.”
But “Mamma Mia!” isn’t just about what people see on stage. It’s about what they feel. Once again, Melendez came back to a core theme of the musical: Joy.
“What ‘Mamma Mia!’ does, at least what I see, is strangers, sitting next to each other, singing along, enjoying joy on stage," she said. "They have to kind of surrender to the joy … It kind of reminds you of the people in your life, why they’re important and why they stuck around. If people can take away the joy and the love that they have for the people in their lives, the way it’s mirrored in the show, I think that’s what I would hope people take away from it."
She said there’s a “collective joy” the audience and cast members experience together, which produces an “alive” and “electric” feeling. She said she loves that aspect, even admitting it helps her and her cast mates do their jobs better.
“It is surreal, and it makes me love waking up in the morning and going to bed at night knowing we participated in something so joyous,” she said.
She encouraged those who want to sing along to embrace the urge. The tour stays true to the classic production that many have come to know and love.
“If you know it, you know it. That script has not changed, but the delivery of some of these songs, these lines, these words are so specific to these cast members who don’t look like what you might think from the original,” she said. “We’ve always been encouraged — even by our director — from the very beginning, to make this our own. We’re not looking for the originals’ ideas. We’re not looking for Amanda Seyfried at all. They very much encouraged us to be ourselves. A lot of people will see we bring a lot of ourselves onto the stage. The people make it fresh and new. It’s a beautiful cast.”
Melendez herself said she chooses to bring a fire to the show every night, igniting Sophie’s spirit and beauty for all to see.
“Mamma Mia!” is dancing its way throughout the Midwest in the first half of 2024 — including Cleveland’s Connor Palace Theatre from Jan. 30 to Feb. 4, Milwaukee’s Marcus Performing Arts Center from Feb. 20 to Feb. 25, Columbus, Ohio’s Ohio Theatre from March 12 to March 17 and Madison, Wisconsin's Overture Center from March 19 to March 24.
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