Review: Mamma Mia! at the Theatre Royal
With the touring production of Mamma Mia! Coming to Newcastle’s Theatre Royal for an extended run this month, we sent our super trouper Michael Telfer along to play Abba bingo.
Weather wise, I’m reasonably sure this week has officially been the worst on record. It has been raining for longer than should be meteorologically possible and I haven’t felt warm since took our Christmas decorations down.
Last night the weather app on my phone reported the temperature was two degrees, but felt like minus four degrees, which was pretty apt as I was supposed to be going to the Theatre but very much felt like curling up at home with the fire on.
Thankfully my professional integrity prevented me from pulling a sickie, because Mamma Mia! turned out to be more warming than a hot water bottle full of Ready Brek.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Mamma Mia! (or Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus’ Mamma Mia! to give it its full name) is a much-loved jukebox musical based upon Abba songs. It is the fifth longest running show in West End history, and the ninth longest on Broadway.
The plot centres on Sophie Sheridan (Lydia Hunt), who plans to use her upcoming wedding to Sky (Joe Grundy) to find out which of her mother Donna’s (Jenn Griffin) three old boyfriends is her father. She secretly invites them all to the small Greek island where the festivities are about to kick off, and so starts a lot of singing, dancing and soul searching.
With a soundtrack that includes such familiar hits as Super Trouper, Lay All Your Love on Me, Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Take a Chance on Me, Thank You for the Music, Money, Money, Money, The Winner Takes It All, Voulez-Vous, SOS and, of course, Mamma Mia the Theatre Royal crowd were in delightful participatory mode from the off.
The potential fathers Sam (William Hazell), Bill (Mark Goldthorp) and Harry (Richard Meek) quickly realise they’ve been lured to Donna’s taverna on false pretences, but the offer of a Greek wedding and the chance to see Donna in her flares one more time is enough to make them hang around.
Also invited to the wedding are Donna’s old pals Rosie (Rosie Glossop) and Tanya (Sarah Earnshaw) and, much to Tanya’s delight, a throng of toned young groomsmen.
The vocals are brilliant throughout, especially from the female cast members which probably isn’t a huge surprise given the songs were written to suit Agnetha and Anni-Frid far more than Benny and Bjorn.
Jenn Griffin and Lydia Hunt are fantastic as Donna and Sophie respectively. Their relationship feels genuine and Sophie manages to be permanently bouncy without being remotely irritating, which is a hell of a high wire act to pull off.
As I’d imagine must be the case with any musical based on existing songs, the relationship between the plot and the lyrics ebbs and flows over the two acts, but the music is so good you’d have to be a professional nit picker to notice.
And any songs they really couldn’t crow bar into the storyline (I’m looking at you Waterloo) were saved for an encore which danced straight into my top three.
You’ll laugh, you’ll sing and you’ll even forget the weather for two hours. I genuinely can’t think of higher praise.
Mamma Mia! is at the Theatre Royal until February 28, and tickets are available from the website.