‘Mamma Mia!’ at Fort Worth Bass Hall: Why this show will be special for Texan performer

“Mamma Mia!” is a feel-good musical — and Jalynn Steele is feeling great about bringing the production to her home state of Texas.

Steele, who is from Texas City on the Gulf Coast, is part of the touring company that will be performing the popular jukebox musical featuring songs by ABBA at Bass Hall from July 16 to 21. With almost 6,000 performances, the original Broadway production is one of the longest running shows ever in New York.

While “Mamma Mia!” has toured through Fort Worth four times before — the last time in 2011 — Steele will be making her debut appearance here. In more than two decades of performing professionally, the closest she has come were performances in Dallas of “Fosse” in 2003 and “The Lightning Thief” in 2018.

“I always put together a map of all the cities and theaters where we’ll be performing and when I saw Bass Hall, I thought, ‘Oh great!’” Steele said via phone from a hotel in West Palm Beach as the show was beginning a two-week break before making the trek to Texas.

“I like to know all about the places we’re performing, and this seems like an amazing venue. It was a great time in Dallas, and now I’m so excited to finally get to Fort Worth.”

And though it’s a new adventure for her, she has positive thoughts about the Fort Worth theater presence. In fact, she said, it’s quite evident.

“There are incredible shows coming through, and that is indicative of a powerful theater scene,” she said. “You don’t get those kind of shows without doing something right.”

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‘I’d perform anytime, anywhere’

Steele is a 1998 graduate of LaMarque High School and a 2003 graduate of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. She would have graduated sooner, but she took some time off prior to her senior year to tour with “Fosse.”

Following graduation she moved to New York and continued her professional career. She now lives with her husband in Union City, New Jersey, about 45 minutes from Manhattan.

“It’s close enough to get there in not too much time, and far enough away that I can escape,” she said.

Her performing roots go back to singing in her pastor father’s church as a young girl. Every year she looked forward to being in whatever production they’d do for vacation Bible school, she said.

Then her father asked her a question that she said changed her life.

“I just couldn’t decide what to major in when I was getting ready for college, and he asked me, ‘If, at 3 in the morning, someone called you and asked you to come to work, what would you have no problem getting out of bed and doing?’” she recalled.

“Without any hesitation I said I’d perform anytime, anywhere, so that’s the direction I took.”

‘A full-circle moment’

Steele has some family in the Metroplex. As for her friends in the Houston area, they will have to make a journey north to see her perform.

But, she said, she believes they’ve always had to travel to see her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever performed in Houston. That’s a crazy thing,” she said. “But I do stay in touch with folks down in that area, and some are going to drive up to see the show.”

She added that if all goes well, the tour could expand to include San Antonio, Dallas and, yes, Houston, in 2025.

“It will be a full-circle moment,” she said.

Steele has performed on Broadway in “The Lightning Thief,” Off Broadway, in national/international tours and even on TV, including the beloved “Sesame Street.”

Now, she’s playing Tanya, one of the lead characters in “Mamma Mia.” Tanya is a wealthy and sophisticated singer and actress who is one of Donna’s (the show’s main character) oldest and best friends. She is known for being fun-loving, acerbic and witty, and for flirting with younger men.

The show’s plot centers around Donna’s daughter, Sophie, preparing to get married and wanting her father to walk her down the aisle. However, she does not know who her real father is. Upon discovering entries in her mother’s diary about three men, Sophie invites all three to the wedding to solve her mystery.

“It’s a story about love, nostalgia, friendship and female empowerment,” Steele said. “And the music is in the message so well, and the music is simply fantastic.

“ABBA is a generational thing. We get people who love their songs, they bring their kids and their grandkids. There were literally 80-year-olds dancing next to 8-year-olds.”

Steele recalled one of the dressers working with the show telling her how special she felt after each performance.

“She told me, ‘After each show every night when I come home I glow, the show makes me so happy,’” Steele said. “And she’s backstage, she doesn’t even get to see it, just hears it.

“This is just one of those shows you’re gonna feel great after seeing it. I feel great being in it.”

Almost every performer has a favorite role they long to play. However, Steele said she doesn’t think that way.

“The role I’m in is my role of a lifetime,” she said. “Right now, that is Tanya.

“And whatever the role is, I get to play it as only Jalynn can play it.”