Take a Chance on Mamma Mia at the Orpheum Theatre It’s worth the “Money Money Money”

Mamma Mia! the musical premiered in April of 1999 in London, almost 25 years ago now, in fact this current tour is the 25th Anniversary tour. I suspect it has more or less been playing in one of the major cities or on tour nonstop for those 25 years. There is a reason for that, it’s “Super Trouper” fun. But for all the fun it provides it also has a cross to bear. While Jukebox musicals existed before Mamma Mia! it’s phenomenal success is credited or blamed for the surge the genre has experienced in the last quarter of a century. While it may not be fair to blame Mamma Mia! for something as ridiculous as The Bodyguard it just takes a quick glance through the wikipedia listing of Jukebox Musicals to see the explosion that followed Mamma Mia! The 8th longest running musical in Broadway history it’s popularity is undeniable, but is it for everyone? Of course not, nothing is, if you don’t like the music of Abba for instance this probably isn’t the ticket for you. But if you do enjoy a little bit of “Dancing Queen” in your life and enjoy a good laugh then say “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” to a seat as close to the stage as you can manage. For those just rescued from a desert island the story centers around the wedding of Sophie and Sky. Sophie, after reading her Mother’s Diary for the year of her birth has discovered that her Father, of whom she knows nothing, is one of three men her mother had relationships with the summer she was conceived. She has sent invitations to her wedding in her mother Donna’s name to all three of the men, Sam, Harry, and Bill, without Donna’s knowledge. While Sophie tries to figure out which of the three men is her father, Donna is trying to prepare for the wedding, run her Greek Island hotel, and face three men from her past that she never thought she’d see again. There to support Donna are her two best friends and former singing partners Rosie and Tanya. All of this sung to the legendary music of Swedish super band ABBA.

Two things to know going into this production it’s loud, near rock concert levels, those with sensitive ears might want to invest in some earplugs. the second thing is that the loudness is part of what makes it such a memorable night, precisely because it feels like a rock concert! Nowhere more so than the curtain call which plays like an encore and a welcome excuse to revisit the songs “Mamma Mia” and “Dancing Queen” as well as the song that launched ABBA to stardom in 1974 but could not conceivably be shoehorned into the plot “Waterloo“. If you are one of those curmudgeons who sneak out during the curtain call to beat the line out of the parking ramp, you’ll miss some great stuff. Also, shame on you, these people just spent two and a half hours dancing and singing their hearts out, show your appreciation to them for sharing their talent with you and clap for God’s sake. The show moves along quickly the set design by Mark thompson is very simply but does everything you need from it. It’s nice to see a production that wows us with people rather than spectacle. Choreographer Anthony Van Laast puts together some nice scenes, I really enjoyed his work durning the song “Lay All Your Love On Me” which ends with Sky and his friends in wetsuits and flippers doing a variation on a chorus line. The encore also features some really nice dance moves, so there’s another reason to stick around.

The standouts in the cast are not necessarily who you’d expect, far and away my two favorites are Jalynn Steele and Carly Sakolove as Donna’s besties Tanya and Rosie. Confession time, I’ve only seen the film once when it came out in 2008 and hated it, primarily because I found the performances of these two characters and that of Donna’s to be shrill and one prolonged two hour screech. I do plan to revisit to see if my opinion has changed, because it’s all that stuff with Tanya and Rosie that I absolutely adored in the stage production. Steele and Sakolove are gifted at making their routines feel like they are happening for the first time, if physical humor can be called witty, this is it. Their song sung to Donna while trying to cheer her up “Chiquitita” is one I’d pay to see again. It doesn’t hurt that that scene flows right into Dancing queen and in both songs they demonstrate, that as good as everyone else is on the stage, those two are packing the best voices in the show. Sakolove also gets a riotous song with Jim Newman’s Bill “Take a Chance on Me“, that brings the house down. A close second is Victor Wallace as Sam, the possible father who is the one who really broke Donna’s heart and the one she’s not even a little happy to see. He doesn’t really get a chance to show off his voice until the second act when he gets two songs in close proximity “SOS” and “Knowing Me, Knowing You“. The richness of his voice catches you a little of guard as nothing up until that point led you to believe he could sing any better than Pierce Brosnan. Christine Sherrill who plays Donna had a slightly off first act, one of my colleagues who is more musically astute than I am felt like she was a little behind and that led to a sense that her voice wasn’t as strong as the others. Whatever the issue was it seemed to have evaporated during the intermission as she finished the show quite strong with “The Winner Takes it All” being a powerhouse of a performance.

Mamma Mia runs through February 11th at the Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepintheatretrust.org/events/mamma-mia-orpheum-theatre-minneapolis-mn-2024/ . Side note, am I the only person who can’t hear “Knowing Me, Knowing You” without thinking of Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge character?

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