Theatre / Reviews
Review: Mamma Mia, Bristol Hippodrome – ‘The feelgood musical to end all feelgood musicals’
I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the initial pitch for Mamma Mia. I imagine it went something like this: “Well, Benny and Bjorn out of ABBA, it’s about this girl who has three possible fathers and she invites them all to her wedding without her mum knowing, causing her no end of shame.
“Everyone sings all your best songs all the time, and someone does get married at the end but it’s not the girl, who actually prefers a beige two-piece hiking outfit to a wedding dress. Oh, and it’s set on a Greek island, not some melancholic suburb of Malmo.”
Benny to Bjorn (in a whisper): “It’s ridiculous.”
Bjorn to Benny: “But not as ridiculous as a song that compares a lovers’ tiff to the end of the Napoleonic Wars.”
Benny: “Agreed. Let’s do it.”
And so, a quarter of a century and a worldwide box office take of $4.5 billion later, Mamma Mia continues to delight and amuse audiences who lap up the marriage of breathless storyline and endearingly clunky lyrics, underpinned by some of the best tunes in pop music ever.
There’s no point trying to explain why Mamma Mia works – it just does. Perhaps it’s the cheesy cheeriness, the campery, the tongue-in-cheek nods to ABBA’s essential naffness or even the off-the-scale male nipple count – somehow, all these elements hang together to produce the feelgood musical to end all feelgood musicals.
A truly outstanding cast drives the show along, not least Jenn Griffin as Donna Sheridan, the taverna-owning mother whose free n’easy ways two decades previously have prompted all the shenanigans. Marisa Harris channels no less a diva than Joan Collins to produce uber-maneater Tanya, while Luke Jasztal, Richard Meek and Mark Goldthorp (as Donna’s former lovers Sam, Harry and Bill) do their best to come to terms with youthful transgressions.
Amidst all the fluff and frivolity, there are serious points being made about parental responsibility, generational attitudes to love and sex, and how time can shrink even the biggest of personalities.
But look – this isn’t Ibsen. For every Knowing Me, Knowing You, there’s a sequin-laden Dancing Queen just around the corner, ready to banish the blues with a shimmy and a shimmer. That, above all else, is what continues to resonate with audiences from Stockholm to Sao Paulo.
And as the Scandi Fab Four sang, almost 50 years ago, “without a song or a dance what are we?” In tough and complex times, it’s a simple sentiment worth holding on to.
Mamma Mia is at Bristol Hippodrome from November 11-22 at 7.30pm, with additional 2.30pm matinee shows on Thursday and Saturday (no shows Sunday). Tickets are available at www.atgtickets.com.
All photos: Brinkhoff-Mogenburg
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