Images: 
Total Rating: 
***
Previews: 
October 5, 2001
Opened: 
October 18, 2001
Ended: 
September 12, 2015 (at Broadhurst Theater)
Other Dates: 
Mamma Mia! ran Oct. 18, 2001-Oct. 19, 2013 at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theater and then moved Nov. 2, 2013-Sept. 12, 2015 to Broadway's Broadhurst Theater. In all: 5,578 total performances.
Country: 
USA
State: 
New York
City: 
New York
Company/Producers: 
Judy Craymer, Richard East & Bjorn Ulvaeus for Littlestar in association w/ Universal & The Mirvishes. GM: Nina Lannan.
Theater Type: 
Broadway
Theater: 
Winter Garden Theater
Theater Address: 
1634 Broadway (50th Street)
Phone: 
(212) 563-5544
Running Time: 
2 hrs, 30 min
Genre: 
Musical
Author: 
Music & Lyrics: Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus w/ Stig Anderson. Book: Catherine Johnson.
Director: 
Phyllida Lloyd
Review: 

 This is a feel-good evening whose time has definitely come. A scant two years after its London opening, the show has a string of successful productions which spread like lightning all over the English speaking world. When primary producer, Judy Craymer, approached relatively unknown TV/theater writer Catherine Johnson to do the book, she was somewhat incredulous but, a big fan of ABBA, she was eager to comply and is still surprised by its success. Later on, director Phyllida Lloyd, whose main experience was with opera, jumped on board with the theory that this would not be a star-driven vehicle but rather draw on the enthusiasm of an untested cast chosen from each country in which the production is mounted.

The star of the show is the score by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of the famous '70's Swedish pop group, ABBA. If you already know and love songs like "Dancing Queen," "Money, Money, Money," "The Winner Takes It All," "Mamma Mia" and eighteen others, you need know nothing more. The upbeat music is accessible even to those previously unacquainted with it.

Johnson's slim story, shoehorned between the songs, seems lifted from the movie "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell." Sophie (Tina Maddigan) is getting married on an idyllic Greek isle but wants her father to give her away. However, her mother, Donna (Louise Pitre) had three lovers (Dean Nolan, Ken Marks, David W. Keeley) in the heyday of the swinging Sixties, and no one, including Donna, knows which is Sophie's real father. Sophie secretly invites them all to the wedding, shocking everyone including her fiance, Sky (Joe Machota), Donna's old friends and former bandmates Tanya and Rosie (marvelous Broadway veterans Karen Mason and Judy Kaye).

The first act's preoccupation with introducing the characters and situation affords many opportunities to slip in the songs, but as emotion mounts in the second half, and relationships develop to include intimate moments between Sophie and her "fathers" and Donna and her former lovers, the music simply does not work. Andersson and Ulvaeus have insisted the arrangements, under Martin Koch's watchful eye, remain unchanged and so, when there is an emotional duet between Donna & Sam, he starts appropriately singing solo. Suddenly there is an unseen chorus accompanying him, and the intimate moment dissolves into full-blown orchestration.

These songs are not written for musical theater, and Bruce & Aitken's all out, nonspecific amplification cannot adapt to the subtleties of the book. Furthermore, the songs are listed in alphabetical order in the program, so the savvy audience tries to guess which song is about to be heard, and laughs in delighted recognition -- destroying any coherent response to the charming if familiar story.

Mark Thompson's set designs and Anthony Van Laast's choreography register "cute," no more dimensional than the characters. Howard Harrison's lighting gets a chance to shine only after the play ends. Both the story and the music are recycled, offering questionable value for money spent (a CD is cheaper and will last longer than your memories of the show).

At the curtain call, the show gives up all pretense of a play and reverts into a full-scale pop concert...and that's exactly how it should be.
Mamma Mia!, good theater? No! Good Fun? Yes!

Parental: 
adult themes
Cast: 
Louise Pitre, Judy Kaye, Karen Mason, David W. Keeley
Technical: 
PR: Boneau/Bryan-Brown; Set: Mark Thompson; PR: Boneau/Bryan-Brown; Casting: Jim Carnahan; Lighting: Howard Harrison; Sound: Andrew Bruce & Bobby Aitken; Music Sup/Additional Arrangements: Martin Koch.
Other Critics: 
PERFORMING ARTS INSIDER Richmond Shepard ? / TOTALTHEATER David Lefkowitz ?
Miscellaneous: 
This review was first published in Theatrescene.net.
Critic: 
Jeannie Lieberman
Date Reviewed: 
February 2002