The ABBA song celebration "Mamma Mia!" is known for its ability to reveal the inner dancing queen in just about anyone. Presented in a spirit of goofy good fun, it shoehorns 22 of the Swedish foursome's infectious songs into a story that is dressed up in '70s-era jumpsuits and platform boots and presented with full-out energy.
In its return to Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre, the show transformed a recent audience into a sea of disco demons, with senior citizens swaying and boogieing as enthusiastically as those who had come dressed in bell-bottoms and dangling-sleeved blouses.
It should be hard to dislike a show that can do that to an audience--especially when the production is fronted by three-time Tony Award nominee Dee Hoty and three audience favorites from the show's presentation early last year at the Shubert.
Yet, for all it accomplishes, "Mamma Mia!" remains a disappointment to at least a few of us.
As a teenager in the '70s, I wore down the vinyl on my copies of the ABBA albums containing "Dancing Queen," "S.O.S." and "Mamma Mia." But after buying a pair of tickets to last year's presentation of the musical that includes those songs, I spent the entire performance thinking, "I spent $140 for this?"
The story--random events cobbled together to justify use of the songs--was so stupid that it made my head hurt.
And the set--which looks like a rusting ship but is meant to be a Greek-isle taverna--appeared to have been built by a high school drama club, an impression heightened by the fact that few in the cast seemed to have reached drinking age.
The songs, however, were terrific--sounding much as ABBA recorded them, despite vocal adjustments necessary to match the tunes to characters.
For better or worse, the touring production at the Ahmanson equals the pre-Broadway presentation at the Shubert.
Hoty (best-known for her work in New York and Los Angeles in "The Will Rogers Follies") is steely yet appealingly vulnerable as an unmarried mom whose swinging past as a '70s pop singer comes back to haunt her on the eve of her daughter's wedding. Hoty's dusky mezzo-soprano drives the music, much as Louise Pitre's powerful pipes propelled a star-making turn at the Shubert.
In supporting roles, Mary Ellen Mahoney and Gabrielle Jones return with their humorously over-the-top performances as the mom's former backup singers, and Gary P. Lynch continues to display flinty sex appeal as one of three possible fathers of the bride-to-be daughter (now played by sweet but bland Michelle Aravena).
If ABBA songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus want to do this right, though, here's a suggestion: The show's best feature is its five-minute dance-along curtain call. Drop the dippy story and turn this into a disco dance party at, say, $25 a head. Then it'll be worth the price of admission.
"Mamma Mia!," Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7:30 p.m., with some variations. Ends Nov. 23. $25-$80. (213) 628-2772. Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes.
