MAMMA MIA! is the gift that keeps on giving for Victor Wallace!

Victor Wallace and I met in the summer of 1996, and we lived together in Los Angeles & also Chicago. Years later we both lived in NYC at the same time, then we were on tour together with Les Misérables, then back to living in NYC again. And all these years later we are still the best of friends. In fact, he's a close friend to my husband Jim as well and was at our wedding in New Rochelle, NY almost 12 years ago.

So, when I found out that Victor was playing Sam on the 25^th Anniversary tour of Mamma Mia! (which will be here in Huntsville in just over a week), of course we needed to have a video chat for Kip’s Korner! And we chatted. And chatted. And chatted… We tried to “mostly” stay on topic and talk about things that might interest you. Now before I share that with you, here’s a little bio about Victor’s career:

Victor Wallace Broadway: Sam Carmichael in Mamma Mia! final cast. Off-Broadway: Far From Heaven at Playwrights Horizons (Cast Recording). Broadway Tours: The Phantom of the Opera (Buquet, Phantom u/s), Les Misérables (Enjolras). Las Vegas: MAMMA MIA! (Sky) at Mandalay Bay Casino. Regional: Fun Home (Bruce Bechdel) at Coachella Valley Rep, Dragone’s Carmen (Escamillo) at La Jolla Playhouse.

Hello there, Victor Wallace! How’s your mom Gloria doing?

She’s great! I told her we were talking today and she’s very excited about this little meeting.

Aww, Hi Gloria, I love you! I’m going to make your son very Huntsville famous in the Kip’s Korner world.

Ok now, I have to find it, but I have a photo of us from 1998, where you’re holding a CD of Phantom (which you were touring with) and I’m holding a CD of CATS (which I was about to go on tour with). So, we were like, hey, it’s the Andrew Lloyd Webber boys… If I can find it, I’ll post it at the end of the blog.

Yes! I would love that.

You and I worked together a couple of times. The first time was in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I opened the show in May of 1996, shortly before we met. And I believe you joined the cast in 1997.

Yes! I came in as an understudy for Clopin. And I also understudied a couple of the supporting characters like yours.

I forgot about that. Yes, I was playing Jean Paul. You were so great as Clopin! I assume you were great as Jean Paul too, but I never saw you play him since you only did when I was out. Haha.

*Victor and I fall down the rabbit hole for a bit talking about all of the readings, workshops and productions we’ve been a part of that don’t quite go the way you think they will go & how many times you think THIS is going to be the project that changes the trajectory of my career forever… but it just doesn’t happen… Cleopatra the Musical at the Hollywood Playhouse which was rumored to go to Broadway with Cher is one of said projects btw. Lol (we went off the record for most of this conversation).

Ok, let’s talk about Mamma Mia! According to my calculations your journey with the show started back in 2002 in Las Vegas. That was well over 20 years ago and you’re currently touring with Mamma Mia! So, to say this show has been a huge part of your life and career is a pretty big understatement, correct?

Yes! And it’s been unexpected. The first Phantom tour, circa 1997, that I was on closed in Los Angeles. So, I decided to just stay there and try my luck at film and television. And I did some small parts on soap operas and lots of extra work. I also took a lot of acting classes and workshops. I bought a car and cellphone for the first time. Eventually my tour money was running out, so I was waiting tables at P.F. Chang’s too.

Then came the audition for a sit-down production of Mamma Mia! in Las Vegas. It would be the first time Vegas would be doing a full-length equity Broadway show. So, it was kind of a big deal. Anyway, I ended up booking the part of Sky and I was in the show for its first two years. It was a great gig for me! But I had never lived in NYC and felt that I needed to check that box. So after a couple of years playing Sky, I left the show and made my big move out East. There were lots of auditions. I came close to booking a Broadway job here and there, left for regional gigs, etc. Then out of the blue (three years later), Vegas called and asked me to come back to Mamma Mia! but this time as a dad: Sam.

I so vividly remember you telling me this news.

Yes! And I was far too young really to play the role, but their whole thing was that it was in Vegas, so it could be younger and sexier. I remember that Gossip Girl was on TV at the time, and there was a young hot dad on the show, so Vegas figured the audience would go with it.

And they did! Lol

They did!

What year was that?

It was 2008 and I played Sam for the final year of the show at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

Yes, you closed the Vegas company in early 2009. And I know we’re skipping our time touring together with Les Misérables and you were out on cruise ships for a while, but let’s stay on Mamma Mia! for now. What was the next chapter of it for you?

Over the years, they kept bringing me back in for one of the dads on Broadway, but they always ended up hiring someone else. Then one day they called me about whether I would be interested in being in the ensemble and understudying the dads. I said YES, I absolutely will do that. So that’s how I joined the Broadway company in 2012 and got my foot back in the door. Then it all just kind of worked out because they bumped me up to playing Sam and that’s how I ended up closing the original Broadway run in 2015. And I REALLY thought that was it for me and Mamma Mia!

I bet! Now skipping ahead, I know you were in Wisconsin with your parents during the first couple of covid years. Sadly, you lost your dad in 2022. You know I loved Ralph. I’m so sorry.

Thank you. I’m just so glad that I had those extra years with my dad because I was back living with them because of the pandemic, and there wasn’t any acting work out there. I’m so grateful for being there. And to be there to help my mom navigate her way through this unimaginable loss as well.

I’m truly so glad about that as well. I had a similar opportunity with moving back to Huntsville to spend over a year of real quality time with my mom before she passed away last year.

Ok, I need to move away from this conversation for now… Although I know that “laughter through tears is our favorite emotion!” So, what happened next in your Mamma Mia! journey?

A friend of mine from the Broadway company was directing a regional production of the show in Milwaukee and asked me to play Sam again. So, I said yes! It was my first live production after covid, in the Fall of 2022.

“Mamma Mia! Here we go again…”

Exactly! Haha. And that’s how I found out about the upcoming 25^th Anniversary Tour. My agent had dropped me during the pandemic, so I just sent in a self-tape audition submission myself. Luckily it was the same creative team so after they received my submission they just brought me to the final callbacks in NYC. And I booked Sam. Again.

I love it! You’ve been out with the Mamma Mia 25^th Anniversary Tour since it’s beginning back in October 2023. And how’s it been going for the past year and a half?

It’s been and still is fantastic! We’ve been playing to sold-out crowds all over the country. People are up on their feet, dancing and singing along. It just feels really good to be a part of something that still resonates like this with everyone. We seem to collectively all really need Mamma Mia! in our lives right now. It’s the perfect escape for a few hours and I am here for it!

Victor, that makes me so happy. I’m so proud of you and I can’t wait to finally see you shine as Sam in Mamma Mia!

Well, that was so much fun! I adore Victor Wallace. We chatted for a really long time and sadly there isn’t any room left in this blog post to talk about our time together in Les Misérables, and how he played Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera in the late 90s and then came back to the show decades later and got to perform the role of the Phantom quite often. Which is so thrilling! I will just have to post a “Part Two” of our interview another time….