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“...Laurie Wells, as Donna Sheridan…does definitive work here. Last time the show was here, she went on a few times as Donna’s understudy. Well, she has really made the part her own, and it fits her like a glove. She shows us a woman who is strong, but not without weakness, cocooning herself in her mortgage, fixing up her taverna, and pretty much avoiding her past. As the plot thickens and Donna’s cocoon unravels, we see it all, fear, anger, betrayal, and most importantly the beauty and zest for life that made her such a catch as a younger woman.
Wells’ performance is complex – a study guide for portraying mixed emotions simultaneously – and deeply emotional. The act two sequence that has her character onstage for three song sequences without a break would be daunting for the most experienced diva, and she is more than up to the task. The “real” Donna comes out in the aforementioned “Our Last Summer”, the heartache of a mother losing a daughter to marriage is palpable – I’ll admit to a lump in my throat - during “Slipping Through My Fingers”, and the fierce anger and heartbreak of a lost love comes shining through in her thrilling “The Winner Takes It All.” She nailed that song so well Tuesday night, I’m surprised the audience didn’t leap to its feet. Laurie Wells’ Donna Sheridan is not to be missed...”
- Baltimore; Broadway World, August 31 2006, by James Howard
