“That was fun.”
I overheard a man say this to his wife as we exited Fair Park’s Music Hall last night following a performance of “Mamma Mia!” It pretty much sums up this show’s appeal — it’s a fun romp through some of ABBA‘s greatest hits. (I can’t get “Dancing Queen” out of my head today.)
Some musicals are meaningful or poignant; this one is not. Unless you count the mother-daughter coming-of-age storyline, and find yourself crying during “Slipping Through My Fingers,” as I admittedly did. For the most part, however, it’s a musical written around one band’s music, and that inevitably lends itself to some melodrama and cheesiness.
But who cares? Certainly not the more than 50 million people who have attended one of the tens of thousands of Mamma Mia! performances since the show premiered in London in 1999. It’s an especially big hit with women, particularly those who identify with second-wave feminism.
In fact, the most entertaining portions of the show involve the women who exemplify this spirit — Donna, Tanya and Rosie (played by Kaye Tuckerman, Alison Ewing and Mary Callahan), who in their youth performed as Donna and the Dynamites, and have reunited for the wedding of Donna’s daughter, Sophie. The women are the stars of this show; the men, as charming as they are, play second fiddle.
The show is at Music Hall this week only. If you haven’t seen it yet, well — take a chance.
