Posted on: Friday, May 8, 2009
'Mamma Mia!' — how can you resist this show?
By Wayne Harada
Special to the Advertiser
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Michelle Dawson and Adam Jacobs star in "Mamma Mia!" The Broadway musical featuring the songs of ABBA opens Tuesday and runs through May 30 at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. More than 40 million people have seen it since its debut in 1999.
Photos by Carol Rosegg
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'MAMMA MIA!'
Blaisdell Concert Hall Tuesday through May 30 Performances: Through May 29: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays May 30: 2 and 7:30 p.m. $40-$150; 877-750-4400, www.ticketmaster.com
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The cast of “Mamma Mia!” is its charm; while there are super singer-actors in principal roles, they shine as an ensemble.
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"Mamma Mia!" — and don't forget that exclamation point, please — opens a three-week run Tuesday through May 30 at Blaisdell Concert Hall.
OMG, don't miss it, whatever your immediate knee-jerk reaction is.
You're probably cheering — if you're female and somewhat older than, say, twentysomething.
You're surely jeering — if you're male ... whatever your age.
But "Mamma Mia!" is right up there with "Wicked," hugely popular on the national touring show circuit.
I've seen the Broadway original and a production in Toronto some years back. It still sizzles, with cheesy toe-tappers that ultimately bring a smile to your face.
BTW, about 40 million have seen it since its debut in London in 1999. It has spawned a movie, out last year, and millions more have chortled and applauded its virtues, which are generally considered slim.
The story — about a bride-to-be, unbeknownst to her hippie mother, who invites three guys who might be her dad to her wedding in idyllic Greece — is set against the songs of ABBA, the Swedish pop group of the 1970s and '80s.
With such a minimal plot, why should you see "Mamma Mia!"?
Ten reasons:
"Mamma Mia!" is contagious fun, feel-good silly and just the kind of tonic we need in these challenged times of foreclosures, job losses, impending tax increases, a sour economy and a bunch of other negatives.
Its sheer entertainment quotient is medicine for the soul, especially if you're in the midlife crisis, clinging to the recent past of giddy and gentler times.
It is the best of a musical theater genre called a "jukebox musical," which packs a host of unrelated hit songs to frame a love story without necessarily progressing the tale.
It doesn't need stardust — a big name in a starring role — to sell its charms. While there are super trouper singer-actors who are in principal roles, this is one show where the ensemble element rules. One big happy, chirpy family.
You'll know, and eventually start lip-syncing, many of the tunes. "Money, Money, Money," "Dancing Queen," "Honey, Honey," "Chiquitita," "The Winner Takes It All," "Take a Chance on Me," "Our Last Summer," "The Name of the Game," "Knowing Me, Knowing You," "S.O.S.," "Mamma Mia!" But puh-leeze, sing silently; it's OK to move your lips, though.
Years after the disco era, you'll gain a new respect for these ABBA ditties by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, the composers.
The song tempos are fitness-friendly and sensible for your at-home workout. How Swede is that?
The show just may herald the return of disco. Well, maybe not.
You'll gain a new appreciation for Elvis Presley-type bell-bottomed jumpsuits, bejeweled with rhinestones, with day-glo hues. Hint: This fashion element is featured in an epilogue of sorts, like a hana hou/encore — when the whole crew gives a post-show mini-concert where you'll get off your butt and get up on your feet and make and party like dancing queens and kings. Honest!
Go on, admit it. You're a closet ABBA fan but hated to proclaim it. Your coming-out party is calling.
By now, you're probably chirping the title song, "My, my, how can I resist you?" So what's your take on ABBA, "Mamma Mia!" and the 1980s?
See the show, share your responses, relive your memories. Read more of Wayne Harada's "Show and Tell Hawai'i" blog at http://showandtellhawaii.honadvblogs.com. Read his Show Biz column Sundays in Island Life.
Reach Wayne Harada at wayneharada@gmail.com.
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