Mamma Mia - Musical Based On The Songs Of Abba > Reviews > That's a spicy meatball!

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Great fun show, suitable for all the family, all your favourite Abba songs
Disadvantages:	SOOOOOO cheesy !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

After leaving LIPA in the summer of 2003, I embarked on a journey to London with five close friends. There, we set up home, each dreaming of West End glory, although some of us a little more privately than others. A year later, things hadn't quite worked out the way we had hoped, and four of us made the migration back to Liverpool - when the call came.

My friend Hayley, after rounds of auditions, and plenty of waiting and hoping, had bagged herself a major named role in the London cast of Mamma Mia!, and was to go back South for the start of her run in March. Once again, the group disbanded, but this time, one of us had realised her dreams.

The only problem was the show. Another friend of ours had been in the chorus a little while before, and from the people who had seen it, we had not heard good things - the production values weren't great, the performances were the same, and the choreography and direction were lacklustre, so it was more in hope than expectation that she travelled back to the big smoke. Then something wonderful happened - we began to hear good things. After the move to the Prince of Wales Theatre, Leicester Square, the show's quality seemed to step up a notch. After a spate of band based musicals had come and gone - We Will Rock You, Our House, Tonight's The Night (they may still be running, but haven't had nearly the success of the Abba tribute) - Mamma Mia! had become part of the bedrock of the West End, playing to rave reviews and packed audiences, with bookings months in advance. From her rehearsals, Hayley confirmed that this wasn't going to be anywhere close to as bad as had been feared - in fact, she was very optimistic.

A year has been and gone since then. All my friends had been to see the show, but, being in my provincial Northern outpost, I was yet to have the opportunity. So, at the end of February, I finally went down, and settled back to watch the show… Now, I'd like to point out first and foremost, that I am not an Abba fan. I didn't expect much from the show, and would never have gone to see it otherwise, so what came next was a surprise. This is good. Very, very good.

Opening on a Greek island, we first meet Sophie Sheridan, three months away from her wedding day, and with a conundrum on her hands. At twenty years of age, she has never known her father, and with her big day on its way, she has decided to find him, so that he can walk her down the aisle. However, the only lead she has - not wishing to upset the mother, Donna, who has raised her alone - is the diary her mum kept 21 years earlier, during her holiday on the island. In it, she reads about the three men that shared Donna that summer, and decides to invite all of them along to the wedding, in the belief that, as soon as she sees her father, she will know him. After telling her best friends Lisa and Ali about her plan, they await the arrival of the impending nuptials.

Three months later, and with the wedding just one day away, Donna's old friends and former backing vocalists Tanya and Rosie arrive at the taverna which Donna now owns, and meet Sky, Sophie's happy fiancée, and Pepper and Eddie, two buff young men that work for Donna. After a catch up session, Sophie's prospective sires arrive on the island - rugged adventurer Bill Austin, austere former architect Sam Carmichael, and happy go lucky Harry Bright. However, Sophie's plan is immediately scuppered as she realises she has much in common with all three men, and is unable to immediately spot her father. Worse is to come as Donna finds out what her daughter has done in bringing all these men back into her life, and each man in turn finds out exactly why they are there - with each accepting their role as Sophie's father, and insisting on walking her down the aisle! From no fathers to three, from a happy, comfortable life to upheaval, Sophie's world is turned upside down, and she still has her biggest day to come…

Now, you know I'm not going to give away any more, suffice to say that, obviously, nothing goes quite to plan - hey, where's the fun in everything running smoothly - until the final, revelation packed dénouement.

So far, so ordinary - a fairly decent idea for a story, but certainly nothing earth shattering. However, where Mamma Mia! really comes into its own is in the energy of the show. From start to finish, you are bombarded with bright colours, funky music, and massive performances. Everyone gives it their all on stage, and works hard to put across what could otherwise be a fairly embarrassing piece - the fact that the performers seem to realise just how camp the piece is, and allow it some self-knowing nods to the audience prevent it descending into parody. Sophia Ragavelas as Sophie has a strong voice, and is at home on the stage, although, fabulously, she does not upstage everyone else. Despite this being ostensibly her story, the real star is Donna, played by Vivien Parry. Although I didn't feel that she had the best voice on display, the gusto and obvious fun she brought to the role outshone everything else, and produced some wonderful moments.

The supporting cast are also uniformly vibrant. Lara Mulcahy, as Rosie, basically steals the show with an awesome comic performance, ably assisted by Kim Isley as Tanya. Isley has, for me, the best song in the show too, when, after being pursued by the much younger Pepper (Ben Heathcote), asks him 'Does Your Mother Know?'. Martin Ball as Harry, John Alistair as Bill, and Simon Slater as Sam, the three prospective dads, are all excellent actors, although none of their voices are perfect, which actually adds to the enjoyment - too often have I seen shows where acting ability is superceded by a great voice, thus bringing down the level of the performance overall.

Sophie's fiancée, Sky, played by Fergus March, is, however, something of a disappointment. Although March does well with what he is given, the role is probably the weakest in the show - more a plot device than anything else, which is a shame. Although the fiancée is obviously integral to the story - well, you can't have a wedding without one - they really should have done more with him. The same can be said of Ali (Hayley Doyle) and Lisa (Nikki Davis-Jones). As Sophie's best friends, they really should have been afforded more and better quality stage time, although again, both performed what they did have superbly.

The ensemble carried the music well, and all performed with energy and verve, not afraid to really throw themselves wholeheartedly into what they had to do. Not only this, but Anthony Van Laast's choreography lends itself well to the overall feel of the piece, and the dancing, though relatively simple for the most part, was excellent. Oh, and for any young ladies out there, there is plenty of semi-nude man flesh on display (which is probably why I would never be offered a part in this particular show!).

Now, this is an Abba musical, so how good exactly is the music? Well, for the most part, superb. Although, as I've previously mentioned, some of the vocalists are stronger than others, there is not a particular weak link amongst the cast. On top of this, Marcus J Savage's musical direction has brilliantly brought the songs out to their full. The orchestra is superb (all music is performed live), and the backing vocals are incredible, layered and textured to perfection, with such an authentic Abba-esque (sorry to Erasure) vibe that they are actually one of the highlights of the show, and are all the more impressive for the fact that, if you weren't actually paying attention to them, you may not even notice how good they are - a sure sign that something is working extremely well. The same goes for Howard Harrison's lighting design, although the use of follow spotlights does become wearing after a while.

Mark Thompson's very simple stage design, built on a rotating stage, allows scene changes to be enacted quickly and easily with minimal dead stage time, which allows the piece as a whole to flow, and keeps the pace from dropping. Consisting of just two simple wall pieces, each with a door and steps on either side, they are used to great effect to create different locations, and never grow boring. The stage also has a section which can be raised, giving extra scope to the director.

The costume design, by Lucy Gaiger, is intriguing, ranging from very normal clothes, which one might wear on the streets, to the all-in-one Abba jumpsuits, which are a lot of fun. Again, this aspect is nothing spectacular, but is very functional, and adds a lot to the show by sheer dint of not trying overly hard.

As I mentioned earlier, the show has a lot of self-referential touches, which helped to lessen the blow created by some truly cringeworthy moments, particularly when trying to shoehorn in another song. Although this is clearly the Name of the Game (ho, ho!), it did get a little annoying at times, and there were at least three occasions when I had to ask my companion, 'Erm, what did that have to do with the plot?' The greatest example was The Winner Takes It All. Sam enters Donna's room, and after a short scene, says, 'We need to talk.' Cue really bad joke into the song: 'I don't wanna talk…' Yes, even the Abba fanatics in front of us let out an audible groan. Still, this also worked well at times, as with 'Does Your Mother Know?' and when, in an attempt to get Donna to open up after she and Tanya find her crying, Rosie asks 'Chiquitita, tell me what's wrong.' Even I had to laugh at that.

I was very lucky in that my seat was in a perfect spot - nine rows back, dead centre. However, I've been told by others who weren't so lucky that the view from everywhere in the theatre is good - although if you're right up in the nosebleeds, the opera binoculars which I believe are available may come in handy. The show is so big and bright however, and the sound quality so good, that you are unlikely to miss anything important. This is mainly due to the Prince of Wales theatre itself, which is compact, and, after its recent facelift, a joy to watch from, with comfortable seats and plenty of room. Although, yes, you do get a lot of hen party type groups, they didn't distract from my enjoyment of the show, and in fact help to create a party atmosphere. This is particularly prevalent during the finale, when a reprise of the show's best songs, with a couple of others thrown in for good measure, got literally the whole audience on their feet. Even I succumbed.

In fact, there was only one little thing that affected our enjoyment of the evening overall, and that had nothing to do with the show itself, but actually occurred in the bar beforehand. Now we were probably just unlucky, as there are bars on every floor, to get the one with the most miserable bar staff in London. Actually, it was just one woman, who seemed intent on ignoring us for as long as possible while serving people who came after us, and then begrudging our orders. I asked for a gin and tonic, and then when I asked that I have a slice of lime rather than lemon, she actually rolled her eyes, sighed pointedly, and practically threw another glass down. And all this for only £3.50 a go!

Other than that, however, the theatre staff were polite and very helpful, and added to the overall impression of the performance. Tickets are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, mine cost £49, although it is possible to get returns on the day for as little as £25, but when you consider the bar prices in London, it's really not that bad for two hours 35 minutes (including the interval) of top class entertainment, and thanks to the theatre's situation, the rest of London's nightlife is but a short way away. Of course, there are also opportunities for you to spend your hard-earned cash on Mamma Mia! merchandise, ranging from CD's to tee shirts, and the obligatory program. Speaking of which, if you're that much of an aficionado, and can face the mocking stares, the stage door is just around the side of the building, so you should be able to get autographs fairly easily, if that's your thing.

Overall, Mamma Mia! is a great piece of work. For Abba fans, there are all their biggest songs - Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia (obviously), Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Honey, Honey, et al. For non-Abba fans, there is a great night of fun, laughs and knowing camp. I went in expecting not to enjoy myself, and came out with a massive smile on my face, and can give it no higher praise than that. I would advise anyone to Take A Chance on Mamma Mia!

**The new cast of Mamma Mia! began this week, the 6th of March. It is highly likely that the cast named in this review have unfortunately moved on to other things now, and I take no responsibility for lesser people being involved!**