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The musical Mama Mia! is accidentally postmodern. The
structure of the work is fascinating, rather than the "work" itself. As a best
hits cavalcade for the 1970’s pop sounds of the Swedish mega-group, ABBA, it’s a
lively evening of nostalgia. But the storyline of the show is so uninvolving that what
becomes more interesting is the jigsaw puzzle of it, the way this medley of unlikely,
bubblegummy songs find their way into a story.
For anyone who lived (not just lived through) the 70’s
and 80’s, who misses disco in this age of hip hop, Mama Mia is great fun,
like a Vegas theme concert. The book, by Catherine Johnson, centers a doozy of a 70’s
person as the lead of her show. Donna Sheridan (Jeanine Morick) is an expat party-girl
turned middle-aged single Mom on a Greek Island, running her own inn.
There is a wedding. Donna's 20-year-old daughter, Sophie, is marrying
her boyfriend, Sky, in a day. Mom has invited her best two female friends from the old
days while Sophie has invited a singing and dancing bridal party, as well as the three men
who might be her father. It is a musical celebrating middle age as much as anything. The
story of Donna, who has never left the 70’s, makes you feel sorry for her and a
little older yourself. This glitzified production doesn’t make that bygone time and
its catchy pop music more appealing so much as leading to the realization that things
haven’t gotten any better.
Everyone gets their chance to belt out one or two of the ABBA tunes.
The hits, like "Chiquitita," "Dancing Queen," and "Knowing Me,
Knowing You" predominate. The songs are staged with lots of kidding campy humor, with
show-within-a-show theatrics as the bridal party plays, the best friends cut up, and the
three potential fathers get to campaign for office. Donna belts her way through a lot of
the show, as she is forced to confront the three old lovers on the busiest day of her
life, and the men individually realize why they are there.
The manipulative daughter, Sophie, manages to remain sweet and likable,
despite all her machinations, because she is the bride, this is the biggest day of her
life, and she needs a Dad to walk her down the aisle. There are about three seconds of
existential psychodrama when blond-haired Sophie, played like "Laurie" in Oklahoma, by Chilina Kennedy,
wonders about her missing father figure. She was probably disappointed in the three
cartoon characters who showed up to play.
The three ex-lovers represent the last chance for the partyloving Mom.
She’s depicted as a sleazy Hepburn, the kind of powerful woman who has been waiting
to crumble in the arms of a strong and handsome man, but sleeping around in the
intervening decades. One of the Dads turns out to be gay, the second is a comic with
relationship phobia, and the third has a couple of kids. Bummer! What’s a woman to
do?
There is a period in Act Two when the songs begin to pop out so fast
there is barely enough time to bring on another singer. Things get a little farcical.
Still, as the 20-minute medley that takes the place of bows for the cast, at the end,
demonstrates, this is really about ABBA. "Lay all your Love on Me," "Mamma
Mia," "The "Name of the Game" is "Money, Money, Money."
March 1, 2004 - Michael Wade Simpson
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