Elon music theatre alum Rob Marnell ’06 has returned to Broadway in the revival of “Mamma Mia!”, playing Harry Bright in the ABBA-inspired hit. Nearly two decades after graduating, Marnell says his Elon training prepared him for the ups and downs of a professional career.
Rob Marnell ’06 came from a family of musicians, filled with back-porch music sessions, guitar playing, and aunts and uncles singing harmony.
“Music was kind of in my blood,” said Marnell, who carried the idea of family with him as he looked for universities.
“I got to see a couple of shows at Elon, and I fell in love with the whole vibe of not only just the campus, but the department seemed really tight-knit and like a family,” he said. “I got to see a musical review called ‘A Grand Night For Singing,’ but it happened to be the final performance. I got to see the senior class, and they were all just bawling, about to say goodbye to this amazing experience. And I was like ‘I want to be a part of this.’”
‘A fun, joyous, silly time’
Now, Marnell is part of a new musical family in the Broadway revival of “Mamma Mia!” in which he portrays Harry Bright, a British banker and one of three men who could be the father of Sophie, a young bride-to-be in Greece, determined to find her biological father before the wedding. The jukebox musical is set to the music of Swedish pop group ABBA.
“The timing of the show coming back right now is really important because I think we need any amount of joy that we can get, and that’s something this show provides boatloads of,” he said. “It’s just a fun, joyous, silly time.”
For nearly two years, Marnell toured around the country with the production before coming to the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City, where the musical originally opened on Broadway in 2001.
“The fact that we’ve gotten to sit down on Broadway for six months is a dream,” said Marnell. “I get to play guitar, which is fun and, in the beginning, a little scary. It’s very out there, exposed. I’ve played some goofy characters before, and I tend to bring a goofiness to Harry that maybe isn’t completely in the scripts.”
Marnell says the production’s associate director, Martha Banta, encourages the cast to experiment with the characters and not feel like they need to stick with the portrayal of the original show.
“You get to this place where you’re like ‘OK, I’ve been doing this for so long, how do I continue to do this and try to make it feel fresh and new and not get tired of it,” he said. “Martha Banta was encouraged by the original director to play with the script, play with the characters. It didn’t have to be exactly the same as it was before, which was refreshing.”
The musical was also adapted into a 2008 film, along with a 2018 sequel, each with an ensemble cast including Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan. But Marnell has not seen either movie, noting it helped make the role more unique for him and not base his performance on the film’s Harry Bright, portrayed by Colin Firth.
“I had never seen the movie before I got the gig, and then once I was cast in it, it became an intentional choice because I didn’t really want to have that inform what I do or what I bring to the character,” said Marnell.
Learning the name of the game
While at Elon, Marnell learned how to act through song and connect to the material in a personal way. He credits Cathy McNeela, who retired from Elon in 2022 as the William S. Long Professor and professor of performing arts, with teaching him about the “mechanics of the voice.”
“I learned so much from her in a class called ‘Performance in Musical Theater’ which was, in my opinion, the heart of the whole program,” said Marnell. “It was a beautiful class and a lot of vulnerability. Cathy made a long-lasting impact on me for sure.”
The opportunities Marnell had at Elon, including performing in multiple shows, helped make his transition to New York easier, but he still says it was a challenge.
“You’re a small fish in a huge pond,” he said of moving to New York City. “It just became a numbers game. Elon tried to prepare you for what to expect when you move to the city, but it is a little shocking. I had confidence, but I think moving to New York and the repetition of auditions and hearing ‘No’ and all of the rejection, you build up this stamina. It’s a little bit of hardened skin.”
Take a chance on me
Marnell graduated from Elon in 2006 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Theater and made his Broadway debut in 2015 in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” before also appearing in “Gettin’ the Band Back Together,” and “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.”
“It was like nine years out of college, and I could have given up. But I got closer and closer and then the gigs became better and better,” he said. “You just have to have that faith, and also everyone’s timeline is different.”
He encourages Elon students to take as many classes as possible to get a well-rounded education, including courses outside of performing arts. Nearly 20 years since graduating, Marnell says he’s finally becoming more confident in his work and experience.
“I’m proud of my resume, and there’s a comfortability,” he said. “I’m fortunate and grateful for the wisdom I’ve gained in pursuing this professionally. I don’t take it for granted, and I know how this machine works, and I just have to prepare as much as I can, go in there and have fun in the room, and if they found the right puzzle piece to fit their puzzle, then amazing. If not, it doesn’t mean that I’m not worthy.”
