It's the music

It’s the music.

The costumes, the set, the dialogue, they all have their place. But when it comes to “Mamma Mia!” it’s the music of ABBA that is the driving force.

“The music. It’s the music,” said Bev Wolford, who is directing this weekend’s Jay County Civic Theatre production of the show as well as playing the role of Donna Sheridan. “It’s youth revisited. Plus, I like the story. I know it was written to bring all of the music together, but it’s still a fun story. I always love the happy ending.”

“Mamma Mia!” — shows are 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, at Arts Place — has been a show Wolford and Greg Ashley, who plays Harry Bright, have had a dream of performing for years. It debuted in 1999 but first became available for licensing last year.

“I loved the music of ABBA as a kid growing up and that has stayed with me,” said Ashley. “And when ‘Mamma Mia!’ first came out I thought, ‘Oh, that’s fun. I can hardly wait to do that.’ And then it toured and it toured and it toured, and I thought, ‘I’m going to be too old to be in this show.’ But finally we got it.”

Wolford and Ashley are part of an ensemble cast that features:

•Donna and the Dynamos — Wolford, Jan Rittenhouse of Portland as Tanya and Jen Truesdale of Celina, Ohio, as Rosie

•The young bride-to-be and her friends — Grace Rison of Celina, Ohio, Delaynie Bennett of Redkey as Lisa and Diana Rose of Coldwater, Ohio, as Ali

•The potential fathers — Ashley, Ric VanSkyock of Winchester as Sam Carmichael, Jason Maitlen of Portland as Bill Austin

•The groom-to-be and his friends — Lee Habegger, Joey Bailey and Ian Nesbitt, all of Portland, as Sky, Pepper and Eddie, respectively

The plot revolves around Donna and Sophie Sheridan. Donna, it seems, had an adventurous summer in the late 1970s.

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It’s the music.

The costumes, the set, the dialogue, they all have their place. But when it comes to “Mamma Mia!” it’s the music of ABBA that is the driving force.

“The music. It’s the music,” said Bev Wolford, who is directing this weekend’s Jay County Civic Theatre production of the show as well as playing the role of Donna Sheridan. “It’s youth revisited. Plus, I like the story. I know it was written to bring all of the music together, but it’s still a fun story. I always love the happy ending.”

“Mamma Mia!” — shows are 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, at Arts Place — has been a show Wolford and Greg Ashley, who plays Harry Bright, have had a dream of performing for years. It debuted in 1999 but first became available for licensing last year.

“I loved the music of ABBA as a kid growing up and that has stayed with me,” said Ashley. “And when ‘Mamma Mia!’ first came out I thought, ‘Oh, that’s fun. I can hardly wait to do that.’ And then it toured and it toured and it toured, and I thought, ‘I’m going to be too old to be in this show.’ But finally we got it.”

Wolford and Ashley are part of an ensemble cast that features:

•Donna and the Dynamos — Wolford, Jan Rittenhouse of Portland as Tanya and Jen Truesdale of Celina, Ohio, as Rosie

•The young bride-to-be and her friends — Grace Rison of Celina, Ohio, Delaynie Bennett of Redkey as Lisa and Diana Rose of Coldwater, Ohio, as Ali

•The potential fathers — Ashley, Ric VanSkyock of Winchester as Sam Carmichael, Jason Maitlen of Portland as Bill Austin

•The groom-to-be and his friends — Lee Habegger, Joey Bailey and Ian Nesbitt, all of Portland, as Sky, Pepper and Eddie, respectively

The plot revolves around Donna and Sophie Sheridan. Donna, it seems, had an adventurous summer in the late 1970s.

The show, set in 1999, follows Sophie struggling to learn about who she is and Donna confronting her past as Carmichael, Bright and Austin are reintroduced into her life.

The show — tickets are available online at artsland.org, at Arts Place or by calling (260) 726-4809 — is jam-packed with 26 ABBA songs, with one sometimes running directly into the next. There are the well-known hits, like “Dancing Queen,” “Take a Chance on Me” and the titular “Mamma Mia!” And there are somewhat less mainstream numbers like “Slipping Through My Fingers,” in which Wolford, as Sheridan, laments the how quickly the time has seemed to pass as her daughter has grown from little girl into woman.

“I really love slipping through my fingers,” said Ashley. “I even remember thinking when I got the album and I listened to that song, ‘Oh, that sounds like it should be from something. A movie, a show, whatever.’ They were so perfect in putting it into the story. It just fits so well, and it’s such an effective song.”

For Wolford, the favorite is “Our Last Summer,” which she performs with Ashley. They have a long history on stage with Jay County Civic Theatre and beyond, having performed for the first time together in Jay County High School’s 1979 production of “The Music Man.”

Regardless of favorite songs or moments, though, Wolford simply hopes the audience embraces the fun-loving nature of the ABBA soundtrack and the story that was built around it.

“I want everyone to enjoy,” said Wolford. “Just be in the moment and enjoy whatever they want to take out of it,” whether it be the music, the story or any other aspect. “I just want people to enjoy, to have fun.”