Interview: MAMMA MIA's Sanne den Besten

A few days after cast change, I checked in with MAMMA MIA's new Sophie Sheridan: the lovely Sanne den Besten, who was kind enough to share a little of her Abba and other musical theatre experiences.

Liz: How are you settling into the show?

Sanne: It's good! It's weird; yesterday was such a weird show after the opening night, but I'm so excited. I've done Les Mis before - I've done a straight cross - and I'm just really excited to be in a really bright, happy, sunny show for a year. I think that'll be so much fun. So yeah, it's all been quite exciting!

Liz: Were you a fan of Abba before you joined the cast, or before you were auditioning?

Sanne: Abba is kind of before my generation really, but obviously I did know them, and their music is always that kind of fun guilty pleasure music in a way. Even people who say that they hate it, it's kind of a guilty pleasure music; isn't it? It's funny, I was just thinking today, I remember when the movie came out, because I didn't really know the story of Mamma Mia before that - I hadn't seen the show. I remember seeing that open in the biggest cinema in Belgium, and it was like a karaoke night, so I thought "This is so much fun!" and I just loved it. And then I thought, "Oh God, and now I'm doing it!" - I just had a realization moment today, which was quite funny.

Liz: They should do a karaoke night at the show.

Sanne: Yeah, they do - well, I mean, it's kind of happening sometimes! People singing, I hear some noises coming from the audiences because they just can't help it.

Liz: Moving forward, where do you see the future of your career?

Sanne: I'd like to keep my options open. I'm not really one a person who's like "that's the part". I just love to play beautiful parts; there's not one specific one - I'm always just kind of going with what there is really. I've always been singing since I was four and, kind of, acting came later. I'd love to explore that more. In Holland before I moved here, I did a TV show so I did a bit more acting as well, next to musical theatre. I'd definitely love to do that - I've been in England now for a year so... With musical theatre if you know your lines and you can really practise them accent-wise and stuff, I feel a bit more confident about it, but I'd love to do TV here as well at some point. I'd love to do it all! I really like acting and I'd love to kind of keep exploring that more 'cause I've always been singing. So I feel that is really a thing that I feel really confident with and that is always there - and then I just love to keep exploring that other side as well.

Liz: You left college early to work on The Little Mermaid; what was your experience of leaving training for work?

Sanne: In Holland it works a little bit different - you can intern from the last two years, 'cause it's four years instead of three. Mine was a bit longer; they've changed the rules now. But you're allowed to do a production, so one job, and then at the same time still follow some lessons but not all of them. I did leave The Little Mermaid for the last month to complete my training, so it's not that I haven't completed it. I think it's something that they don't do here. It's kind of part of your training - if you don't get a job you can just follow all the classes - but yeah, you're allowed to do that during school. But it was a great opportunity and there were things that I would never have learned in school. And on the other side, I've also missed things - you know. It's a hard one 'cause I've learned so many things, but just different things than I would have done in classes. But I did go back and complete my training.

Liz: Having covered in The Little Mermaid and Les Mis, would you like to go back and do the parts again?

Sanne: This is the thing - in Holland shows don't have a long run because obviously it's in Dutch and, you know, the country's only that big. Whereas here it's also a tourist attraction and most people can understand English. With Les Mis, when I left I was sad to leave but I actually also felt like I might be back. I loved my year in Les Mis and it might be something that I go back to, yeah!

Liz: Good! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Not too depressing compared to Mamma Mia?

Sanne: Ha, the show itself is obviously, and this is so different! But I did really enjoy my year and there are some beautiful parts and I love the songs. It's funny but it's one of the shows that I've done where the music didn't annoy me at a certain point; it didn't bore me because the music is just so good, so well-written.

I'm excited to be in a bright and sunny show now. But I think Mamma Mia was never something that as a kid - maybe because I didn't grow up with Abba - it was never a show that I thought "I'd love to do that one". But, knowing the story better during the auditions, apart from the fact that everybody knows the tunes, there's actually a few really beautiful storylines. Like Sophie has such a truthful story, with such a beautiful arc for me to play - so that is just something that I'm really excited to do for a year! Apart from singing all the Abba tunes, I'm looking forward to doing that every night and developing that.

Sanne began performing in Mamma Mia on 13 June 2016 and will reside on the island for a year.

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