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| Jalynn Steele |
By Darlene Donloe
Eight times a week, Jalynn Steele straps on stilettos, flips her hair, and saunters onstage at the Ahmanson Theatre to remind a sold-out crowd that life, divorce, and 40 can be fabulous.
She’s Tanya — the wisecracking, champagne-sipping third of Donna’s trio in Mamma Mia! — and for the next month, she’s doing it in Los Angeles as the show’s 25th anniversary tour parks itself at the Ahmanson June 23 to July 19.
It’s a role that requires perfect comic timing, ABBA-level stamina, and the kind of confidence that can only come from someone who once sold soap to pay rent.
For Steele, 46, from La Marque, Texas, it’s also history.
“I’m the first Black actress to play Tanya on Broadway,” she said during a recent interview. “It carried a big weight. Little Black girls came to see the show. And when they saw me, they saw themselves.”
Steele’s path to the Ahmanson ran through cruise ships, dinner theaters, and a whole lot of day jobs.
Before Broadway, she bartended. She waited tables. She sold soap. “I did regional theater gigs on cruise ships,” she said. “Anywhere they’d let me sing.”
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| Cast of 'Mamma Mia!' |
Theater wasn’t the plan. It was the answer to a question.
“I was in my senior year trying to decide on my major,” Steele says. “My dad asked me what I wanted to do. I said singing, dancing, and acting. I was always performing. I was in the choir. Theater came to me naturally. I really love it. It’s a way for me to touch other people.”
That touch turned professional in 2017 with The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, her Broadway debut.
The show ran until 2019 and gave her a foothold. But Mamma Mia! gave her a throne.
Additional credits include: Off-Broadway: Sistas (Dr. Simone). National/International, Tours include Fosse (Star). Regional Theater credits include Rock of Ages (Justice), Joseph (Pharaoh) & Mary Poppins (Mrs. Corry). Her television credits include: "Titanique The Musical: Livestream" (Ensemble) & "Sesame Street."
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| Jalynn Steele |
Steele jumps feet first into all of her characters.
She met Tanya before Christine Baranski did — at least in her own timeline.
“I originally got the role in 2015-16,” she says. “I did it at a dinner theater. I didn’t want to do what someone else had done. I got the role first. I thought the movie was great. Christine Baranski was amazing.”
But Steele’s Tanya isn’t Baranski’s. It can’t be.
“I had to find her myself,” she said. “And honestly, I’m having a ball playing the role. The music of ABBA brings a joyful spirit.”
After two years on the road with the 25th anniversary tour, she’s learned that fun is also work.
Take “Does Your Mother Know,” Tanya’s flirtatious takedown of a much-too-young bartender. It’s two minutes of belts, kicks, and attitude.
“It’s a challenge to get it right,” Steele admits. “There are notes and moves that I hit. Depending on how my body feels that day determines if I’m going to make it.”
Some nights she floats. Some nights she fights. Every night, she lands it.
Ask Steele why she acts, and she doesn’t talk about applause. She talks about access.
“Acting does a lot for me,” she said. “It’s a great vessel. You have the power to change lives.”
She felt that power the first time a young Black girl waited at the stage door.
“First Black Tanya on Broadway — that matters,” Steele says. “When a Black actress sees me as Tanya, I hope they take away that they can do it, too. I hope to overcome those barriers that have been up for so long. That she can break through those barriers. We can achieve things that they never thought we could. I hope to inspire that in everyone, but especially those who look like me.”
The ABBA jukebox musical opened on Broadway in 2001 and hasn’t stopped dancing since.
Since premiering in London in 1999 and on Broadway in 2001, the irresistible musical has captured the hearts of millions around the globe. The sunny, funny tale of a mother, a daughter, and three possible dads on a Greek island paradise, all unfolding to the storytelling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs, has now been seen live on stage by 70 million people across the world and turned into two record-breaking movies – MAMMA MIA! The Movie and MAMMA MIA! Here We Go Again.
To date, MAMMA MIA! has been seen in 50 productions in 16 different languages, grossing more than $7 billion at the box office.
The 25th Anniversary production of MAMMA MIA! made a triumphant return to Broadway in August 2025 for a limited six-month run at the Winter Garden Theatre, where it had its first Broadway opening in 2001. MAMMA MIA! played for a record-breaking 14 years on Broadway, first at the Winter Garden Theatre, then at the Broadhurst Theatre. The show also toured North America from 2000 to 2017 with four different touring companies spanning this period.
The 25th anniversary tour is a victory lap with new faces and the same glitter.
At the Ahmanson, Steele is flanked by a company that feels like summer camp with better harmonies.
“Two years on tour, and I still get surprised by this show,” she says. “The audience gives us energy. We give it back. That’s the deal.”
And the deal, for Steele, is simple: joy is serious work.
“I was always performing,” she said of her Texas childhood. “Choir. Living room shows. Theater came to me naturally.”
Now it comes to the Ahmanson, with stilettos, ABBA, and a first that opened a door.
“If you don’t have fun, what’s the point?” Steele asks.
For the next month in downtown L.A., she’s making sure nobody has to ask.
‘Mamma Mia! is directed by Phyllida Lloyd and stars Steele, Jessica Crouch, Juliette M. Ojeda, Carly Sakolove, Leland Burnett, Rob Marnell, Victor Wallace, and Grant Reynolds.
‘MAMMA MIA!,’ Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, June 23–July 19, 2025, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays, tickets start at $51.75, at CenterTheatreGroup.org
Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes with one intermission
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