Interview: Cashelle Butler as Tanya in MAMMA MIA! on Tour
By: Kathy Strain Jan. 23, 2017
MAMMA MIA has been entertaining audiences all over the world and has audiences on their feet singing and dancing to the inspiring music of ABBA. As the Farewell Tour winds down, Broadway World was able to catch up with Cashelle Butler who is playing the role or Tanya. She shares her joy in this exciting role and how she is enjoying the life she always dreamed about.
How did your first get interested in performing?
I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado and there are so many outdoor sports there and so many active things to do. I was bad at all of them. My parents put me in a kids' choir and I started singing and found something that I really loved. From there, in school, I did the school musicals. I did that and was hooked. By age 12, I liked it and thought it was all I ever want to do. Once I realized that, it was more about how to get there than trying to decide whether or not to do it. I was interested from a very young age. I did go to school for musical theater in Colorado. I graduated in 2014. After that, then I started the auditioning process in New York and that's where MAMMA MIA found me.
You are very young to have the role of Tanya. Tell us about the process of getting the role?
I had been with MAMMA MIA for a year and a half. I was in last year's tour as well. I was the understudy then. After last year's contract ended, I moved into the role of Tanya and that's just been an absolute dream come true. I am young for it but I got to do it a lot last year and so getting to create her myself and have ownership of the role is just so much fun and such a huge blessing. I really enjoy myself every night. In the role itself, she's one of Donna's two best friends and she's coming back to the island after eight years away but many more from when they all met. She's coming back for Donna's daughter's wedding. So, she's had a few husbands, a few divorces. She's lived a very different life than Donna has on the island.
Were you familiar with ABBA's music before you started with MAMMA MIA?
No, actually. When it opened on Broadway was one of my first Broadway shows that I had ever seen. At that young age when I was seeing it, I was not familiar with it. It was able to spark an interest in the music. I ended up listening to it as I got older and then to end up here is a very fun full circle experience. But, I didn't grow up listening to it. Once I got cast in it; it's really so fun and I don't get tired of it. Once you're in it, you experience this; you'll be out everywhere and it's played all the time and it just finds you.
If you had not gotten into show business, what do you think you would have done?
Cried. I don't know. I think I would have trying to get into it. There is no other thing I love as much as this. I'm not sure. That's a very difficult question. I didn't have a backup plan. I would be cuddling dogs maybe.
Don't miss this highly entertaining show as it makes its stop in Austin, Texas at Bass Concert Hall for a limited engagement. The show plays on January 27 & 28, 2017. Tickets can be purchased at the Texas Performing Arts website.
Photo Credit: Kevin Thomas Garcia
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