Thank you for the music
From the moment Sophie, played by Sarah Krndija, puts the letters into the post to the final dance party curtain call, I had a smile planted firmly on my face. And, I’ll admit, I was singing along to every song.
At Shabbat dinner last Friday night, I mentioned to my family that I was going to opening night of Mama Mia The Musical.
My ten-year-old nephew asked what it was about.
It seems that ever since I explained to my son and nephews that I speak to performers for a living, they’ve become quite intrigued by the shows I go to. They were amazed that I had spoken to someone on the Mary Poppins stage when we saw the production, and my son was absolutely astounded to hear I spoke to Paulini who we were privileged to see at opening night of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
“Have you heard of ABBA?” I asked him when he queried about Mama Mia. He stared at me blankly. I stared back in shock, realising that there’s a whole generation growing up without knowing who sings Dancing Queen and Waterloo.
Classic songs if you ask me.
So, we deep-dived into ABBA history, leaning on the Eurovision angle, seeing as that was so fresh in the kids’ minds.
The next day, as I got ready to go to the musical, my three-year-old asked me if he could come too. I told him that as soon as he’s old enough, I’ll take them all to the child-appropriate shows. Nourishing this love of music, dance and performance is very important to me, as someone who grew up going to musicals myself.
I admit, I went into the musical with trepidation. I love the story and the music is nothing short of incredible, but I had not-so-fond memories of Pierce Brosnan trying to serenade Meryl Streep in the 2008 film.
But there was nothing to be apprehensive about.
From the moment Sophie, played by Sarah Krndija, puts the letters into the post to the final dance party curtain call, I had a smile planted firmly on my face. And, I’ll admit, I was singing along to every song.
As expected, Elise McCann, Bianca Bruce and Deone Zanotto stole the show playing Donna Sheridan and her besties, Rosie and Tanya, respectively.
For those not familiar with the phenomenon of Mama Mia, the story centres on Sophie planning her wedding on a small Greek Island where she has been raised by her single mother, Donna who runs the local taverna. When she comes across her mother’s diary, Sophie realises it may hold the key to who her father is. What better way to figure it out than to invite them all to her wedding, hoping that one of them will be able to walk her down the aisle, once she figures out who her dad is, of course.
The story is all told through ABBA’s music.
Mama Mia opened in London’s West End in 1999 and it’s still playing there, becoming the sixth longest-running show in West End history. It has since gone on to play in over 50 countries, more than 440 major cities to over 65 million people.
In 2017, the production was re-staged by an all-Australian creative team, and features 22 of ABBA’s greatest hits, including Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Thank You For the Music, Take A Chance On Me and the beautiful Slipping Through My Fingers sung from Donna to Sophie as she helped her daughter get ready for her wedding, that definitely had the parents in the audience shedding several tears (myself included).
The final curtain call, with the cast performing three of ABBA’s wonderful hits, had the entire audience up on their feet, bopping and singing along.
And as Sophie and Donna took their final bows, the energy in the room was palpable, with people streaming out from Sydney’s Lyric Theatre already raving about the show.
Here’s hoping this latest production brings ABBA’s music to the next generation, because we all need those upbeat, lighthearted songs right now.
Mama Mia is now showing at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre, before travelling to Brisbane from August 6 and Melbourne from October 4. For more, visit mammamiathemusical.com.au
comments