Joondalup Festival presents Mamma Mia! Immersive by Tone and Cheek Productions at Telethon Community Cinema

Tone and Cheek producer Liam Guiney knows what it is like to experience a full-circle moment thanks to English singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Often taking music inspiration from his formative early-2000s era for the production company’s hit Fringe World shows — Club D’amour, Tuck Shop, and Happy Endings — Ellis-Bextor’s Murder On The Dancefloor seems to have followed him every step of the way. “Murder On The Dancefloor was used in my first ever school play because it was a new song then,” 37-year-old Guiney says, who attended Forrestfield Senior High School. “We put it in our show Tuck Shop, and then this season, Sophie Ellis-Bextor performed at The Ice Cream Factory during Fringe World. We were at the concert, and I was like ‘This is a weird full circle’.” Having garnered front-of-house experience in London’s West End, Guiney was working in the Fringe World office at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with operations manager Dan Bruce and dancer/aerialist Natalie Oakes when the closed borders prompted the trio, and their complementary skill sets, to start Tone and Cheek in 2021. “There were no shows being able to come in for the festival, so we thought ‘We know enough people, we could do something like this. We know what sells, because we see all the data coming through’,” Guiney recounts. “So that’s how we ended up doing our first show, Club D’amour, and then the train left the station, and it has not stopped.” This year’s Fringe World saw the third iteration of Club D’amour’s cabaret of circus, drag, burlesque and live vocals, while Tone and Cheek also collaborated with The Ice Cream Factory to assist with programming the site. While mainly centred on Northbridge, the Tone and Cheek team are also embarking on their third time in the Joondalup Festival program, following Club D’amour under the Aurora Spiegeltent at Hillarys Boat Harbour in 2023. Mamma Mia! Immersive at Telethon Community Cinema, ECU Joondalup Pines on March 21 and 22 builds on Tone and Cheek’s previous immersive cinema experience of presenting Cabaret at the same venue, along with involvement in Grease At The Drive-In. “Joondalup Festival wanted to do another cinema experience, because Cabaret was a huge success,” Guiney says. “We were all throwing names of films around, and then we just thought, ‘Joondalup love a disco, they love a party, and Mamma Mia! is perfect, because it’s ABBA. We can have drag queens, we can have dancers, and it’s an easy one to get the audience involved. So let’s have a big disco party, and Meryl Streep can sing for us’.” Created for Joondalup Festival 2026, Mamma Mia! Immersive will be hosted by drag queens Cougar Morrison, Fay Rocious and Donna Kebab, as 10 performers re-enact the musical numbers during a screening of the 2008 film, from Dancing Queen to Super Trouper, SOS, and Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! “We have a stage in front of the screen, and they’ll come out and put on a full show when those numbers are on,” Guiney explains. “People can still enjoy the movie, it’s just a bit more 3-D, and we’ll go into the audience and get everyone up dancing. As long as you like ABBA, like a bit of disco and to have a bit of fun, you’re going to have a good night.” While Donna Kebab is new to the Tone and Cheek performance family, Guiney says the three drag queens have plenty of experience working together at corporate events, resulting in their incredible collaboration on stage. “Fay Rocious is the head drag queen at the Court Hotel who we’ve worked with since the beginning, and just has such a great presence,” Guiney says. “And Cougar Morrison is a musical theatre extraordinaire, so we’re very excited to see her take on the Christine Baranski role (Tanya) from Mamma Mia! because I just think that needs to happen in a full-fledged musical at some stage for her.” As for Guiney, the audience will find him at the tech desk doing the show’s lighting, no doubt busting out his own dance moves and basking in the delightful atmosphere. “I love seeing people’s reactions, and them engaging with the joy of it all,” he shares. Mamma Mia! Immersive is at Telethon Community Cinema, ECU Joondalup Pines, March 21 and 22. Joondalup Festival is on from March 7 to 22. Tickets at joondalupfestival.com.au.