- MAMMA MIA! by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Book by Catherine Johnson. Directed by Phyllida
Lloyd.
The popularity of ABBA songs, which appeared to have died for at least the past two decades, has surged back with a vengeance with the staging of the musical Mamma Mia!
Written by Catherine Johnson and directed by Phyllida Lloyd, Mamma Mia! is set not in Sweden (despite having been popularised by a Swedish foursome) but on a sunny Greek island where the skeins of paternity are sought to be disentangled.
The songs' popularity, more than any other factor, looks set to ensure a long Sydney run for the musical conceived by the ABBA men -- Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. In fact Mamma Mia! has met with strong audience approval both overseas and here, having already been performed in Brisbane and Melbourne before opening in Sydney in late September.
The story of Mamma Mia! is extremely lightweight and serves merely as framework for 22 ABBA songs inserted at just the right times, often with ludicrous and funny effect, sometimes with telling and poignant touches. The choreography is not quite outstanding.
What happens on the Greek island is that Sophie Sheridan (played by Kellie Rhode) is getting married and she wants her father to give her away at the wedding. The problem is she doesn’t know who he is.
But no worries! -- she thinks -- as she digs into her mother’s diary only to find her mum had loved not only unwisely but, well, in quite swift succession at about the time she was conceived. So there are three possible fathers -- Harry, Bill and Sam -- and so she invites all three to her wedding feeling she could then discover who her father is.
Mamma mia! it just isn’t as easy as that.
Carrying the thrust of the story are Donna Sheridan (Anne Wood), Sophie, Donna’s best mates Tanya (Rhonda Burchmore) and Rosie (Lara Mulcahy), Skye as the groom-to-be and, of course the three possible fathers.
The music is infectious and strong and the songs are ingeniously placed. Don’t look at the musical too closely and, chiquitita, you’ll certainly enjoy a night of rollicking fun.
- Lyric Theatre, Star City, Sydney, Australia. Opened September 26, 2002. Closed October 5, 2003.
