Growing Up MAMMA MIA! Victor Wallace Goes from Sky to Sam
 Weddings, parties, multiple lovers, and one illegitimate child… just a typical day in Las Vegas. At least, it is for the cast of Mamma Mia! who just recently celebrated their five year anniversary performing at the Mandalay Bay, making it the longest running Broadway musical ever on the Las Vegas strip. Whether you're an ABBA lover or hater (a.k.a. closet ABBA lover), the upbeat, energetic Broadway show is sure to have you up on your feet by the end, swaying along with the rest of the crowd. According to Victor Wallace, who has just recently rejoined the cast in the role of Sam Carmichael, everyone has a soft spot in their heart for this entertaining musical. Wallace certainly does, as he originated the role of Sky in the Las Vegas production. His credits include Escamillo in Carmen: The Musical, directed by Franco Dragone, Enjolras in Les Misérables, and Raoul u/s in The Phantom of the Opera.
S: Well, welcome back to Las Vegas!
VW: Thank you. It's good to be here.
S: Has the city changed at all since you were last here?
VW: Oh yeah, I mean the skyline is completely different.
S: Has your perception of Vegas changed since you left?
VW: This time around I'll be approaching living in Las Vegas a little more maturely. I kind of stay away from the whole scene on the strip now. Being out on the strip is fun to do, from time to time, not always.
S: Do you have any new places, like restaurants or bars, that you especially like to go around the city?
VW: I especially enjoy a place called Martins it is over in Summerlin. Then there's Mandalay Bay which has a club called Mix. It's kind of a neat spot with the best view. There has been a lot to discover in the city.
S: Besides Mamma Mia! of course, what's your favorite show on the strip?
VW: There are so many! I did enjoy The Phantom of the Opera… the Phantom Spectacular! Also I liked Mistere and Ka. The cirque shows are so interesting and put you in this euphoric state. And I think everyone needs to see Jubilee just because that's old school Las Vegas. It's a slice of the original Vegas.
S: Las Vegas is a city that's pretty well known for "out with the old and in with the new" so it's pretty hard to find something that's preserved like that.
VW: Yeah, definitely.
S: So I've learned that you spent some time in New York in between playing Sky the first time you performed in Mamma Mia! and coming back to play Sam. What were you doing in the meantime when you weren't living and working in Las Vegas?
VW: I toured with the last Broadway touring company of Les Miserables for a little over a year. Then I went to do Franco Dragone's Carmen at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California. Carmen is the same story, though not the same music, as the famous Day opera. All new music. But it was incredible to work with them. But I find myself always being pulled back to Vegas. I keep moving toward a warmer climate.
S: According to the show, you've aged quite quickly over the past few years. Do you think that you're ready for this kind of role?
VW: I wasn't sure at first. I was quite surprised when the creatives brought me in to audition for the role. I sort of compared it to when a character in a soap opera leaves the show and then comes back in two or three years as a grown adult. That's kind of the magic of theatre and the magic of being an actor. You present something to the audience and they're willing to go with the story. It has really worked, and I haven't had any opposition to it being believable.
S: This show is so upbeat and energetic. How do you get yourself prepped for such a lively show?
VW: Just in itself, the music, for one. I've always been a fan of ABBA, I know not everyone is. I think people tend to be a fan of the music without knowing they are and if they say that they aren't, they secretly are. (Laughs) It's such a fun, light-hearted show and especially after having done shows like Les Miserables and Phantom, which are such dark shows, it's a change. It's easy for that the light-hearted energy to happen certainly in a show like this, where all the audience response and laughter really feeds the energy. In many ways, it's hard to believe that they actually call this work. It's more like playtime.
S: What about on a bad day? Do you use a lot of coffee to get yourself started?
VW: You know, I always start my morning off with coffee. (Laughs) You know, there are always those evenings where you're human and you'd rather just sit at home and watch TV or whatnot. But it's really not a tough job to do. It's so much fun. And not just the show itself, but the people I work with, the cast is such a great group of people, with such a good energy in the show right now, it's almost like social hour when I got to work. (Laughs) It's sort of ridiculous that I'm getting paid to do this.
S: Definitely. There is a great energy. And as the audience walks out of the theatre, even if they didn't like ABBA when they came in, they're humming the tune or singing the lyrics as they leave.
VW: It's so true. I always think that when the show first opened, wives would drag their husbands and the husbands would be like, "What did you bring me to?" And then at the end, you see the husbands on their feet, clapping and singing along. There's something that goes down during the show that pulls the wool over their eyes I guess.
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