The Farewell Tour of "Mamma Mia"

    Before I say anything else: I already don't like Mamma Mia. "But, Justin," you ask, "then why did you go see it?" I went to go see it because I wanted to have more of a right to say I didn't like it. I have only watched a less than legal recording of the show and have seen the movie in bits and pieces. So, to be able to say that I didn't like this show in a better conscience, I headed down to the Plaza Theatre to catch a performance of the Farewell Tour of the show. I also wanted to be able to see the show because seeing as this tour is being billed as "The Farewell Tour," I wanted to be able to say that I have seen the show in it's complete and (almost) original form before the show goes away for awhile. While the show was quite fun and entertaining, I am still not a fan of the show itself.

The company of "Mamma Mia"

  The reason I do not like Mamma Mia has nothing to do with ABBA's music, but because of the ridiculous plot. Mamma Mia is about a girl named Sophie who secretly invited three men who could possibly be her father to her upcoming wedding...chaos ensues. I understand that with a show such as this, it is more about the music and flashy production more than anything else, but I think that book writer, Catherine Johnson, could have done a much better job putting together a show with a better plot, intelligent characters, and songs that were actually woven well into the plot. If the characters (specifically Sophie) had any ounce of common sense, and if all of the songs and plot points that are irrelevant were cut ("Money, Money", "Does Your Mother Know?", to name a few) then the show would have been 30 minutes long.  In all seriousness, however, I don't know how Sophie thought inviting three possible fathers to her wedding without telling anyone, in addition to lying about who invited them, would turn out well. Even though the show ends "happily", in real life, so many people would be very angry with Sophie's reckless actions and everyone's waste of time and money.    

   Leading the cast is Betsy Padamonsky gives a warm performance as the bride's mother, Donna. While her voice wasn't pitch perfect from the beginning, her rendition of "The Winner Takes It All" is well performed and a highlight of the show. Lizzie Markson and Dustin Harris Smith give serviceable performances as Sophie and her groom-to-be, Sky. Padamonsky and Markson were paired well as mother and daughter, as during the show I noticed that Markson seemed to resemble Padamonsky.

  One of the potential fathers and Donna's main love interest in the show, Sam is played by Shai Yammanee. Out of everyone in the cast, Yammanee has the strongest voice and an easy stage presence.The other two fathers, Harry and Bill, were played by Andrew Tebo and Marc Cornes. Tebo and Corne had some great character work up their sleeve and were fun to watch. Other favorites of mine were Cashelle Butler and Sarah Smith who played Tanya and Rosie, Donna's friends and former bandmates of their old disco band "Donna and the Dynamos". Both Butler and Smith were hilarious and their duet "Chiquitita" was so much fun. Their "Dancing Queen" with Padamonsky was probably the best part of the show. Padamonsky, Butler, and Smith showed a nice chemistry and played off of each other easily.

  Aside from the written material and the cast, everything else was fine. The set by Mark Thompson looked nice, Howard Harrison's lighing design was appreciable. The weakest part of the staging was Anthony Van Laast's choreography, which was subpar. I think that love or hate the show, you have to admit that the dancing doesn't blow anyone away, it just adds a little bit of flourish, if anything.

  In a Mamma Mia like fashion, I am going to add something that is not related to the show in the middle of this review.  Before the show, there was a miscommunication between the ushers and the production team and they began to let people into the theatre before the ushers got the okay to open the house. One of the people who was working onstage yelled at the ushers in a very unsettling manner that "Nobody told you to open the house yet! Get them out!" As an audience member, I thought that the way the production team went about the situation was impolite and inappropriate, especially in front of audience members. The correct way to assess the situation would have been to say "We apologize for the inconvenience, but we aren't quite ready yet and we would appreciate it if you went back to the lobby." It's not even that they sent us back into the lobby or didn't open the house until the time the show was supposed to start, it's that the crew members were very rude about the situation.

  If you are looking for a show that is fun, familiar, and easy to follow, then see Mamma Mia. If you are looking for a show with a strong, moving, plot with highly developed characters, then see something else. You'll love Mamma Mia if you are only there for the music, but you might not be keen on it if you look past the music and into the plot. I don't know about you, but I think that if you want to write a show with familiar music, you should also put more work into making the songs work in the story, rather than just shoehorning them in around a nonsensical plot. I will say that "Mamma Mia" has so much entertainment value and is fun to watch. Even though the writing is lousy, the music does make up for it.

For tickets and more information, visit http://www.mammamiaontour.com/mm/mamma-mia-the-show.asp

The cast of the Farewell Tour of "MAMMA MIA!" consists of
Donna- BETSY PADAMONSKY
Sophie- LIZZIE MARKSON
Tanya- CASHELLE BUTLER
Rosie- SARAH SMITH
Bill- MARC CORNES
Harry- ANDREW TEBO
Sam- SHAI YAMMANEE
Sky- DUSTIN HARRIS SMITH
Lisa- NIKI BAUDA
Ali- CHLOE KOUNADIS
Eddie- MAX EHRLICH
Pepper- AUSTIN MICHAEL