Last night I saw Mamma Mia live on stage at the New Theatre Oxford. It was a fun show and was one of those musicals which has always been on my radar, but which I haven’t seen live until now. Years ago I saw the movie, which I wasn’t initially a fan of, but have warmed to in repeat viewings, and I thought the sequel film was much better as a film than the first one.
So, with this prior experience of the film versions, I was at least familiar with the plot and the songs going in, and of course know the ABBA songs regardless of the musical.
On stage I thought the show was better than the movie, and this may be down to that a fun natured show with some over the top characters and a playlist of ABBA songs work better as a live experience, or at least have the advantage of the atmosphere.
The plot of the show sees a twenty year old woman, Sophie, about to marry her fiancé Sky, and they’re going to do so on a Greek Island where her mother Donna lives. Sophie has never known who her father was and by reading her mum’s diary from the year before she was born she has identified three potential people as being her father. Without knowing who of them her father is she invites all three to the wedding and from there the plot explores her trying to find out who her father is and the dynamic between Donna and her three past flames.
The plot is a fun one, and I always find it amazing how musicals based on a pre-existing library of songs can have a plot crafted around making the songs seem relevant. All the biggest ABBA songs are present including Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Money Money Money and many more, and they’re fun to clap along to, and as they’re so well known you can probably expect some people in the theatre around you to be singing along (even if you’d prefer they didn’t!)
The set of this touring show is simple, but effective. There are rotating building structures on the stage representing the various areas of the Greek island and Donna’s hotel (or bed and breakfast – etc) and you shouldn’t expect anything to wow you like some other shows are designed as spectacles.
It’s also not a show with overly elaborate choreography, and as several of the main characters – Donna, her friends Tanya and Rosie and Sophie’s three potential fathers (Harry, Sam and Bill) are all shown to be well into middle aged you shouldn’t expect to see them backflipping or break dancing. There are some elements of that from the ensemble, but this is a show that plays to the milf market and takes ownership of that. In fact, I was one of very few guys in the audience and most guys there were there probably dragged along with their girlfriends or wives. That doesn’t stop it being a fun show for everyone, but for anyone more laddish considering going along just know that the vibe of the show and audience was ladies night.
The show had it’s fair of soppy moments and lots of humour. The funniest song and dance routine was Lay All Your Love On Me and saw the male ensemble dancing a silly over the top dance in scuba gear with flippers on their feet. By the end of the show, the show just goes all out as a ABBA tribute act complete with over the top ABBA glam costumes and is definitely a feel good way to end the show.
As a side note, for reasons that weren’t clear the show was abruptly stopped about 45 minutes into the first act with a stage manager coming on stage and ushering the cast off. The curtain went down and there were announcements that the audience should stay in their seats and that the show would resume shortly. It took 15-20 minutes for it to resume, but I’ve not a clue what the reason for the stoppage was. My guess was that there must have been a health related or safety issue rather than just a technical one, but that I could tell all the cast remained the same without anyone being substituted for an understudy. This was an unusual moment that you don’t often experience in shows, and when it did resume I believe that they just restarted the previous scene. I don’t hold this moment against the show in my review, but thought it’d be worth noting as part of the experience which hopefully won’t need to happen during the reminder of the tour’s run.
Conclusion
This is a bright, fun and feel good show with all of the greatest ABBA songs included. If you’re a fan of ABBA, chick flicks or just want a light hearted and positive show to see this is well worth seeing. I definitely thought it was better on stage than the film version. If rom coms aren’t your thing, or you can’t at least tolerate them, you probably will want to give this a miss, but as a fan of musical theatre and someone who enjoys fun shows this was a winner.
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