My husband Justin used to work tech crew for rock concerts in his college days, and always wore earplugs. Last Tuesday night at the Opera House, he remembered why. As fun as the music can be, the high volume can wreak havoc on your eardrums. The ABBA concert cleverly disguised as a musical pushes the volume to the upper limits, especially when the vocalists aren't on stage (overture, entr'acte) and the encore 'concert.' In Denver, I walked past a theater hosting a touring production of Mamma Mia near the end, and the throbbing beat of that encore made its way through the walls, and I'm sure anyone out by the fountain on Stevens and Main would feel the beat too.
"Jukebox musicals" are becoming more prevelant on Broadway, but Mamma Mia is the cream of the crop. While many of the songs are bubble-gum electronica pop, the lyrics usually tell their own story. The show's book writer tapped into those individual stories to create a fun story, less flimsy than most. The 'who's the dad' story is less important than the connections between old friends, and even the relationship between mother and daughter.
Pop/rock songs need pop/rock voices, and almost every character delivered. The woman playing "Donna" is a powerhouse, both in character and in voice. Her show-stopping world-weary delivery of "Money Money Money" is smack-on. Her character loses control in the title song, opening up to those long-repressed feelings; it takes a strong actor to 'melt' like that, landing on a beat, while singing. The ABBA song I was most familiar with, "The Winner Takes It All," was beautifully sung as strength in the middle of pain; I didn't get the sense of "no self-confidence" as one lyric goes, because although she has doubts and hurts, but still is going to stick to what she thinks she needs to do. Well, they wanted to stick to the original lyrics as much as possible, and it's a quibble. Fabulous performance from the backbone of the show.
More excellent performances from Donna's best friends (and the former "Dynamos." The actress playing Tanya has also done Ulla in The Producers, and the actress uses her long leggy looks and blonde hair to effect in her numbers. Rosie (a Jean Hardie-like performance) almost steals the show with her physical gags (proof that spandex no longer belongs in this world) and the fabulous staging of Take a Chance on Me, chasing (and getting) her man. As a harmony fan, I appreciated the tight work of the Dynamos, not to mention the off-stage back-up singing of the chorus. The actress playing the daughter, Sophie, sings too nasally for my taste.
I suppose I should mention the guys, although they are truly back-seat to this show. The actor portraying Sam doesn't have that rock delivery, was visibly reaching for his notes in Knowing Me Knowing You and didn't have the technique to vary his delivery in the chorus repetitions. If there's a true weak spot in this production, it was the song S.O.S. First off, the song's lyrics are a little too light to be delivered in such a serious way. Second, Sam and Donna had two different vocal styles which didn't quite mesh. But I admit the two made a nice couple acting-wise. Harry "Head-banger" was a delight, and made a sweet sound out of "Thank You For the Music." The Austrailian, Bill (I want to call him Bruce!) only has incidental singing, and played up the Crocodile Dundee aspect of his personality.
As mentioned before, "Money" was my favorite number, not only because of Donna's singing, but the entire staging. This was the most stylized of the numbers, utilizing the chorus as residents of this Greek island, complete with women in severe dark dresses and headscarves, men in fisherman caps. They gathered around Donna in a Les Mis-style choreography (think Lovely Ladies) with grasping for money and sang the commentary "Ain't it sad," "That's too bad," etc. Hm, a chorus commenting on the action on a Greek island ... could it be ... a Grecian Greek Chorus? I love the unstated pun.
Other staging high points: the dance of the scuba-clad men in Lay All Your Love On Me (second show in a row with buff topless men!), the nightmarish fantasy sequence for Under Attack (the surprise person under the wedding veil was a funny touch), the camp of Dancing Queen and Super Trouper with all the joy of friends reliving their youth while reviving their friendship.
Surprisingly, one song I'd never heard of made me cry. "Slipping Through My Fingers" is a song of parental love and the inevitable separation each daughter has to make. Having a little girl in the terrible twos, and the literal distance between me and my own mom, it was an incredibly personal moment. This is the song on the cast album I've been turning to.
I didn't listen to much ABBA in the '70s, just the occasional songs on the radio. In the early '90s, a theater friend was a closet ABBA nut, and after loosening up with a few drinks at a cast party, was convinced to put on a record and sing along. Just like bell bottoms and spandex, ABBA's songs were one of those guilty pleasures that came back in style (to an extent). During intermission, I asked an usher (who looked about 60) what he thought. "I LOVE it! This is the best show I've ever seen!" The best show? "My favorite used to be CATS, but I never left disco," he explained. It certainly has that driving, electronica beat. The music production is the modern side of disco, with several keyboards in the pit (the only acoustic instrument I noticed in the pit was a regular guitar for "Thank you for the music"), even the conductor has a keyboard. The two drum kits are POWERFUL, it's nearly impossible to NOT tap your feet. It's electronic pop at its best, and there's a home for it. Surprisingly, that home includes the theater stage.
Just don't forget the earplugs.
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