- 5 weeks ago
Kristen speaks with Juliette M. Ojeda, who plays the role of Sophie Sheridan in her principal national tour debut as a member of the 25th anniversary tour of MAMMA MIA! The two chat about life on the road, audience reaction and participation, and some of her favorite experiences so far while on tour with the show. Don't miss Mamma Mia! at the Academy of Music from September 29th - October 4th. Tickets at ensembleartsphilly.org.
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00:01hello I am Kristen Bergman and thank you so much for tuning in yet again for a chat about the
00:06awesome shows that come to Philadelphia we're so lucky with Ensemble Arts and the Schubert
00:11organization and in this case what I'm really excited for another chance to see an incredible
00:16show Mamma Mia is just loved by so many and this is the 25th anniversary tour so even cooler and
00:23it's here from September 29th through October 4th at the Academy of Music a beautiful venue I'm
00:29really psyched and with me via zoom is Juliette Ojeda Juliette hi good morning thank you for
00:35having me thanks for taking the time we're so excited to have you here in Philly it's a show
00:40that uh I actually I saw this flyer for it which kind of sums up everything it says you already
00:45know
00:46you're gonna love it which is something that you know it's so true you know whether you know the
00:51movie or you know the show and you've seen it a million times or this is your first time you
00:55do
00:55you know it's you're gonna love it maybe just because of the music or the story but I don't
01:00know for whatever reason it's universal do you find that with all the audiences that like they
01:05they either know the show so so well or anything they they're up and dancing no matter what yes
01:11actually one of my favorite things is looking out at the audience at the end of the show um during
01:16the mega mix and seeing the wide range of ages um the other day yesterday literally yesterday we had
01:23two shows and in the early morning show front row was a row of kids and they were loving it
01:30it was
01:30adorable we we just talked about it right after the show ended it was everything and then in the
01:36evening show it was a bunch of older folks and again same energy it's it's crazy I I never you
01:44know
01:44realized that a show could bring a wide variety of people together and make them feel so good
01:51totally it's something that you can play in the car with your kids you know like anybody
01:57loves ABBA music and I probably should have mentioned the music of ABBA as Mamma Mia in case
02:01anybody isn't you know after 25 years familiar but yeah it's just one great song after another it's
02:07sort of like Grease in that way where you know it's just everything's a sing-along kind of song and
02:12with that mix at the end it's pretty participatory do you mind talking a little bit about that about how
02:17people can kind of be a part of the show well it's it's very rare I feel nowadays at least
02:22to have
02:23a show that that includes the audience with them um and it's a nice it's a nice chunk of time
02:30we get
02:30to share with them I mean at the end it turns from a live theater performance to a live concert
02:36we're interacting with the people we're pointing at them they're singing along they're dancing along
02:40um and it just it it leaves you leaving it I feel like at least from when I was a
02:47part of the audience
02:48it made me feel like I was a part of the show as well I mean it made me feel
02:54leave the theater being
02:55like wait that was so much fun and you know we got it we got a show we got a
02:59good classic show
03:00everyone's happy and then at the end we all danced and sing and we we also get a glimpse into
03:08Donna's Donna's life um prior to Sophie prior to her becoming the single mother who runs a taverna
03:16you see a glimpse of of Donna and the dynamos which is really really cool you get to see the
03:22suits and then you get to see the dads coming in with the suits as well which for those who
03:26have
03:27never watched the show I mean you won't expect you you just it's something you don't expect and then
03:30it's like whoa it's awesome and I think that's one of the first things I heard about the show too
03:36before I knew anything really about it other than that it was kind of like an ABBA musical
03:40everyone just kept saying that you know like as an audience member you will be a part of this show
03:47and and it is it's a party it's like going to a wedding or something and you play the lead
03:51character
03:52you play Sophie as in the show which is like Amanda Seyfried's character in the movie
03:56uh how was that getting that role was it was it a dream for you was it something that you'd
04:01ever
04:01dreamed of well Sophie Sheridan was the first dream role I ever really had um it was Mama Mia was
04:08the
04:08first musical I ever saw live I was 13 years old so 10 years ago now around the same time
04:15um I remember
04:17watching it on a cruise ship with my mom and I I just don't know how to explain it other
04:23than I got
04:24full body chills and it was like you know when your intuition speaks to you and I just remember
04:29having a thought of this is what I'm going to do the rest of my life at 13 years old
04:33it's the first
04:34intuitive thought I think I ever had and I feel very lucky that I've known what I wanted to do
04:40from
04:40a very young age and the fact that I've fulfilled this has been so great I've been auditioning for the
04:46role at least for the professional um professionally for this role I've been auditioning for it since
04:522021 since I was a freshman in college I auditioned for it three different times and I
04:59third time was the charm it was the easiest audition process I had ever done um the direct
05:07the casting director I remember singing and I did an opt-up in the audition room and the casting
05:12director turns to the creative team and goes
05:16we're done here I was like I was like so did I get it or yeah and then two weeks
05:23later I got the
05:24call that I was Sophie Sheridan but if it weren't for those three different times I and I swear that
05:30third time I was like I don't know if I'm for this guy they've already said no twice but oh
05:34I'm so glad
05:35you tried again and it's such a good like little piece of advice to anyone else who's struggling or
05:40trying in this very difficult industry that like maybe it's not your time just yet but don't give
05:45up don't say no to yourself before other people say no to you like don't don't be the person to
05:50say
05:50no to yourself it's just it's you never know you'll literally never know well said and then I love
05:56that story of how that was your first show too like and that in itself to have this role then
06:02be your
06:03first giant national tour and in such a huge role and that you saw it with your mom originally too
06:08because it is kind of a mom daughter kind of show it's a great one to go with you know
06:14any member of
06:14your family but I love that like your first memory there was you and your mom and has she seen
06:19the
06:19show and does she love it um yes she has seen the show since um obviously she went to opening
06:27um
06:27um and I was very lucky that opening was only about an hour and a half away from where I'm
06:32from
06:32um where are you from I'm from Miami Florida um we opened in Fort Myers which is about like an
06:39hour
06:39and a half two hour drive um but I was very lucky that my my entire family extended even got
06:47to come
06:47and see the show um and it was it was really really fun to share that part of my professional
06:55life with
06:55them I mean a majority of the projects I've done have been in New York and because my parents live
07:00so far away they rarely ever get to see my projects but this one was very special to me and
07:05the fact
07:05that they got to see it right as we opened as well was it was it meant a lot to
07:11me you came to them
07:12in that case and and how has touring been like what have you like what are some of your favorite
07:17memories on this tour so far what's your favorite city so far oh my goodness um
07:24I have I have a few favorite cities um Fayetteville Arkansas is up there which I was expecting I'd never
07:32been to Arkansas um but Fayetteville was so cute I felt like I was living in a cartoon like in
07:37a
07:37cartoon village it was so cute um the accent alone is kind of cartoonish it's really cute I loved it
07:44I loved it I was like I could live here um yeah Los Angeles and Ottawa um Ottawa and Canada
07:54Ontario Ottawa is Ontario I think it's up there it's up there um but Ottawa was so beautiful we're in
08:04Canada right now um oh are you Toronto I I feel like it's hard to pick favorites but but those
08:10are
08:10like my top four right now um and it's been it's been really wonderful I have my beautiful puppy
08:17over here he's he's laying on the couch I get to bring so nice yeah he's perfect I get to
08:23bring with
08:24me everywhere um I have my friends on tour which I it would be very hard without them um and
08:32and yeah
08:33I mean it's it's taking it one day at a time tour life is it's very very different than what
08:38I
08:39thought it would be um and you know you learn a lot of things about yourself and your body and
08:45your body gets really tired when when you're traveling a lot and so it's just been a lot about
08:52listening to what my body needs sleeping a lot hydrating and taking it one day at a time truly
08:58because we do we talk about how much energy you know as an audience member you put into to go
09:03into
09:03the show but you doing the show sometimes multiple times a day and then with travel on top of that
09:09it's a lot and here's the thing I've learned so I was I I'm I'm a Cuban gal so I
09:14drink a lot of
09:15coffee naturally it's just part of my part of my culture but I I've come to learn to not over
09:24caffeinate myself because sometimes it'll I'll be tired and I'm like okay I guess I'll have a four
09:30shots of espresso because I really got to do the show and then it's like maybe I shouldn't have had
09:34that fourth one it's yeah I don't feel sometimes I'll be doing the show and I'll be singing and
09:39it'll feel like someone punched me in the chest and I'm like oh my god I had too much coffee
09:42do I
09:43look normal what am I saying like do I do am I cool the inner monologue and what is your
09:51favorite
09:52scene from the show what's something that maybe someone who's seen the show a million times
09:56maybe surprised by or will just definitely love oh it changes it changes but I think the one that
10:07comes to mind right now is my favorite scene right now is um the dad's arrival scene where um they
10:15they just got onto the island they don't know who I am and I'm trying to be like I didn't
10:22think this
10:23far ahead so essentially Sophie didn't really think this far ahead so in the moment she's like
10:27yeah I uh invited you because uh and then you know it's it's just it's a bit of like you
10:35get you
10:35get to see a glimpse of Sophie's chaos in real time which is really fun to sometimes you know do
10:42I I try
10:43to keep it authentic and real every night sometimes I'm like I don't know how I'm gonna say this line
10:48because I'm thinking in the moment of how how would you react to this you know right um so that
10:56one
10:57is the the opening dad scene is my favorite because then we get to sing and I get to play
11:02a little
11:03guitar with the dads um and then this is not a scene but my favorite song is is is under
11:10attack
11:10and I mean if you've only watched the movie it's definitely a surprise for you when you watch the show
11:16but it's it's such a fun number to do awesome and were you an ABBA fan prior to this or
11:23yeah
11:24I was so I grew up um again like like I said I'm I I didn't say this but I'm
11:30a first generation um
11:31Cuban American so I was the first person ever in my family to be born in the states um so
11:38growing up
11:38I grew up with a lot of Spanish influence um and naturally I grew up with a lot of Spanish
11:45ABBA
11:45so I thought ABBA was a Spanish group um oh my gosh that's so funny all of their songs in
11:51Spanish
11:52before I knew them in English um I generally thought they were like a Spanish group or like a
11:57Mexican group or and I until you know until I saw ABBA in real life and I know ABBA um
12:04Mamma Mia
12:04the musical and I was like these are I know these songs um so funny that's I knew a lot
12:10of like
12:11Weird Al versions before the original versions like growing up because that's what we played in
12:16our family that's really funny exactly it was it was the cleaning music we had it was like Sunday
12:20morning get up it's it's our weekly cleaning and ABBA in the background and yeah because it's feel
12:28good music and this whole show is feel good music and in Spanish it's Spanish has a lot the Spanish
12:34language has a lot more words that it's just it's there are words that don't exist in the English
12:42language that exist in the Spanish language and the fact that ABBA uses a lot more diversity with
12:48their words it just makes songs feel so like Chiquitita you would think that it's already as is
12:54it's already such a feel-good song that makes you cry and be like I'm a powerful girl but if
12:59you hear
13:00it in Spanish I every time I hear it in Spanish I sob even more because I'm like how these
13:06lyrics
13:06are just so beautiful and maybe it's because it's in Spanish and it's my native language that I'm like
13:10I feel a lot more with it but it's really really neat yeah it's really cool to see to have
13:17both
13:17versions of ABBA like my kids are actually in Spanish immersion school so they they we only do TV
13:23in Spanish and things like that so we will start listening to it in Spanish I had no idea oh
13:27my gosh
13:28yes yes you guys are gonna love it oh cool well I am so excited to see this show I
13:33can't take them
13:34yet they're pretty young but um eventually I'll be taking my own kids to go see it it is such
13:39a
13:39beautiful show for families for anyone to see the 25th anniversary tour of Mamma Mia and you are
13:45starring in it Juliette we can't wait to see you at the Academy of Music September 29th through October
13:504th tickets at EnsembleArtsPhilly.org we'll see you soon thank you so much for chatting with me
13:55thank you Kristen
13:56you
13:57you
13:59you