Victor Wallace grew up in Delavan, Wisconsin, dreaming of the stage, and now he is playing Sam Carmichael in the national touring cast of Mamma Mia! at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in downtown Milwaukee. The ABBA-fueled jukebox musical is celebrating 25 years, and for Wallace, the run means performing the role that has followed him across two decades of his career just a short drive from where he grew up.
A Delavan Kid Who Fell for Acting at Age 7
Wallace’s path to the stage began in Delavan. WISN reports that he was drawn to acting at age 7 and later landed a role in a Delavan-Darien School District play. During a New York trip for a national high school forensics competition, he was photographed outside the Winter Garden Theatre, the Broadway house where Mamma Mia! would later play.
Wallace’s history with Mamma Mia! began with the role of Sky in Las Vegas. A TDF Stages interview dates his first performance there to 2003, while the blog kipskornerbtl.com says he stayed with the show for its first two years. Wallace told TDF Stages that he first played Sam Carmichael in the Las Vegas production in 2008.
From Vegas to Broadway and Back Again
TDF Stages dates Wallace’s Broadway debut to 2012, when he joined the Mamma Mia! ensemble at the Winter Garden Theatre. Wallace closed the Broadway production as Sam Carmichael in 2015, describing the experience to TDF Stages as “such an amazing gift.”
Wallace returned to the role of Sam Carmichael for the launch of the show's 25th-anniversary national tour, which launched in 2023, and he has played the part ever since. He also had another Broadway stint with the production in 2025. Wallace has described going back on tour as his first big job since the pandemic shutdown.
A Challenging Role With Wisconsin Ties
Wallace has called Sam Carmichael one of his most challenging roles, citing the character’s demanding music and layered storyline. In Wisconsin, he shared the stage in 2024 with Christine Sherrill, a former Kenosha teacher, and has said the state’s cast members were representing their roots. He also visits his mother during time off in his home state. Before this tour stop, Wallace played Sam in Skylight Music Theatre’s Milwaukee production, which ran from September 23 through October 16, 2022, according to Urban Milwaukee.
The Story Behind the Songs
Mamma Mia! features songs by the Swedish pop group ABBA and is set on a Greek island, where Sophie tries to discover who her father is before her wedding to Sky. She invites three men from her mother's past to the island in hopes that one of them is the father she has never met, a plot described in detail by the same TDF Stages interview. The Tony-nominated musical opened in 2001 and ran on Broadway for 14 years.
Mamma Mia! on Milwaukee Stages
The current Marcus Performing Arts Center engagement is the national tour; a separate Skylight Music Theatre production played Milwaukee in 2022. BroadwayWorld reported that Skylight’s production ran September 23–October 16 at the Cabot Theatre in the Historic Third Ward. Skylight is Milwaukee’s professional Equity music theatre company.
Wallace has said the musical offers an escape centered on friendship, family and love, a sentiment that has clearly resonated with audiences well beyond its original Broadway run. The touring production currently at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee is billed as the show's 25th Anniversary Tour, matching the same milestone Milwaukee Theatre lists for the current engagement. Mamma Mia! runs through Sunday at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in downtown Milwaukee.
