Pull up your bell bottoms and strap on your platforms, because ABBA’s smash hit jukebox musical Mamma Mia! has finally hit the New Theatre. Seen by over 65 million people since it first premiered in 1999, Mamma Mia! has become a musical theatre juggernaut, in no small part because of the instant recognisability and universality of its soundtrack.
For the three of you out there who may be unfamiliar with the plot; our action takes place on a secluded Greek island in a taverna run by hardworking firebrand Donna Sheridan (Sara Poyzer). Twenty one years ago, Donna had three trysts in quick succession with different suitors, any one of which could now be the father of her daughter Sophie (played by Phoebe Roberts with a sweet, wide-eyed earnestness). Sophie, having found a diary detailing these flings, invites all three to her wedding under her mother’s name with the intention of figuring out which one is her dad before the big day. When rugged survivalist Bill (Phil Corbitt), staid ex-headbanger Harry (Daniel Crowder) and smooth heartbreaker Sam (Richard Standing) all arrive bearing suitcases and a lot of questions, Donna gets the fright of her life, and must try and make it through the nuptials without losing her wits, aided by the undying support of lifelong friends Rosie (Nicky Swift) and Tanya (Helen Anker). It’s all the ingredients of your classic farce, set to the stylings of everyone’s favourite Eurovision winning 1970s Swedish supergroup. If you think that doesn’t go together like a horse and carriage - well, yeah, but stay with me.
As you might expect, each setup is camp as Christmas - bedroom karaoke with feather boas and hairbrushes as microphones, gyrating pool boys line dancing in wetsuits and snorkels, and more lamé than you can shake a stick at. The costume design offsets the bohemian blues of the Mediterranean with the glitz and sparkle of 70s disco to riotous (if sometimes disjointed) effect - a couple of outfits at the wedding party feel like a sherbert dipped Ladies Day at Ascot. Whether or not you get on board with Mamma Mia will be heavily dependent on your willingness to undergo an absolute baptism of cheese - I for one was more than happy to get lost in the fondue.
Back in the day, Donna, Rosie and Tanya were part of girl group Donna and the Dynamos, and my god, does that still ring true. Mamma Mia! is something of a rarity in that so much of the show is dedicated to celebrating female friendship as much as romantic ties, and when the trio grace the stage together it’s a non-stop romp. Helen Anker’s Tanya slinks about with the deliciously Patsy Stone-esque sensibility of a woman living fat off three lucrative divorces, while Nicky Swift plays freewheeling commitmentphobe Rosie with peppy, infectious vitality.
It’s genuinely (and depressingly) refreshing to see any kind of media that presents older women as unashamedly desiring and desirable, and while both Anker’s purring ‘Does Your Mother Know’ and Swift’s eager ‘Take a Chance on Me’ elicit a lot of laughs, it’s never at their expense - you are really and truly rooting for these women to get the action they deserve. Special mention also to would-be lothario Pepper (James Willougby Moore) and a charmingly flustered Bill in each of these scenes, who seize the moment (and other things) with both hands.
The trio of potential dads too play wonderfully off each other, Harry’s endearingly buttoned down former flowerchild a lovely contrast to Bill’s gruff Geordie man of the world and Sam’s conflicted angst. Sam’s chemistry with Donna is also deeply palpable, in part informed by the fact that Standing is playing opposite his actual wife.
But of course, the night belongs to Donna herself. What a richly layered performance this was from Sara Poyzer, pairing the giddy energy brought back by the memories of her twenties seamlessly with the conflicting fears of the present day. Her scenes with Sophie and Sam are especially strong, her maternal guilt and heartbreak grounded and believable amid the camp, and when she finally busts out ‘The Winner Takes It All’, it’s just the right side of melodrama, her dynamite vocals bowling over Sam (as well as anything within a 500 metre radius). The balance of the more ‘stagey’ delivery demanded of musical theatre with the obvious poppy sensibility of the score is a difficult one to strike (and some don’t quite nail), but Poyzer sells it hard.
There are only a few minor gripes; occasionally the choreography gets a little static, particularly in the title number when Poyzer is belting and mugging her heart out but not really given much to do in the space (this is more than offset by the ensemble numbers, however, including a particularly impressive neon nightmare sequence to accompany ‘Under Attack’). There’s also not a lot of breathing room between numbers - hits are sometimes introduced at a breakneck pace that doesn’t give the tone of the previous track enough time to settle.
But those technical objections just dissolve in the fun of it all; Mamma Mia! is an industrial strength solvent for cynicism. The premise is fabulously implausible, the excuses for some of the songs enormously flimsy (which, to their credit, the cast seem to know). But the willingness to revel in the silly, the magic in the collective spark of recognition when the first notes of each iconic number are heard, help to bulk out an admittedly slight script, culminating in an uproarious encore which had the entire crowd dancing in their rows. Mamma Mia - I would go again!