MAMMA MIA

“You are the dancing queen. Young and sweet. Only seventeen”

A review by Abigail Kathleen

The story begins with a young 20-year-old woman, Sophie, living on a beautiful Greek island with her single mother, Donna. In a mission to find out who her father is, Sophie digs into her mother’s diaries to discover that there are three men in the world who could potentially be her father. Behind her mother’s back she posts invitations to all three men to her wedding… and that’s where the musical fun begins.

Mamma Mia first graced the West End stage in April 1999, from there it has become one of London’s most adored and iconic musicals. The musical is adapted by Swedish pop band, ABBA, after a producer saw the stage potential in their songs, the producer and two members of the band, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, teamed up with playwright, Catherine Johnson to create a musical that is this year celebrating 20 years of stage success.

Featuring ABBA’s legendary hits such as “The Winner takes it all”, “Mamma Mia” and “Take a chance on me”, the musical will be going on tour! I have listed the tour dates and locations below:

Edinburgh Playhouse – 19th – 28th September 2019
La Seine Musicale, Paris – 4th – 20th October 2019
The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford – 30th – 23rd November 2019
Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin  – 10th December 2019 – 5th January 2020
Theatre Royal, Newcastle  – 22nd January – 8th February 2020
Mayflower Theatre, Southampton – 11th – 29th February 2020
Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham – 12th – 30th May 2020

The stage show keeps its set simple with a bright blue backdrop and two villa style walls that are moved around between scenes. The cast has a vast mixture of ages and performers, whom delivers a superb and energetic performance throughout. We were fortunate enough to see Mamma Mia on the 6th March, it was my first time seeing the musical on stage.

I have a huge love for the films so I had set myself up for a show full of pizzazz but unfortunately, I found the performance to be a little lacklustre, I’m not sure if that was to do with six of the characters being played by subs, in honesty I can’t quite pin point it. Though before you take my word for it, I have been told by family, friends and colleagues that they thought the stage show was incredible, so possibly just a midweek slump

Following its stage success Mamma Mia was adapted for Cinema, with the first film featuring Amanda Seyfried & Meryl Streep playing the mother/daughter duo, being released in 2008. Following the film’s success, a sequel, Mamma Mia: Here we go again, starring Lily James as the young Donna, was released in 2018, and both films saw incredible success.

Mamma Mia is a feel good, toe tapping musical that has become the seventh longest running show in the West End. It offers laughter with its slap stick and light-hearted humour, show stopping performances and heart tugging moments. Certainly not a show to leave off your West End bucket list. Tickets can be purchased from the London Box Office.

Photo Credit: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg