Here We Go Again: the enduring appeal of Mamma Mia! | Broadway

The siren name comes from inside the home at 1634 Broadway: two plinking, immediately recognizable marimba notes, adopted by a bubbly swell of melody and accompanied in fact by Technicolor lights and the choice of a triple-shot cocktail. Sure, Mamma Mia! is again on Broadway, as soon as once more offering much-needed escapism through idyllic Greek isle and the mind-clearing oeuvre of Abba.The grandaddy – or, maybe, erstwhile father – of the fashionable jukebox musical returned to the Winter Backyard Theatre this month after a decade away from New York, a lot to the delight of pop music followers younger and outdated charmed by its ebullient disco and gloriously ludicrous plot. It might be honest to say that it by no means actually left; although the unique closed after in 2015 after almost 14 years on Broadway, Mamma Mia! nonetheless echoes loudly in musical theater as, arguably, the last word feelgood present – a “big singing Hostess cupcake”, because the New York Occasions memorably put it of their 2001 overview. An untold variety of jukebox musicals have proliferated in its frothy wake, that includes the catalogs of everybody from Buddy Holly to Alicia Keys, Alanis Morissette to the behind-the-scenes pop maestro Max Martin, although by no means with fairly the identical degree of success and enduring attraction because the originators of the time period “Swedish hitmaker”. (Mamma Mia! continues to be working in London, the place it first premiered in 1999, making it the longest-running jukebox musical within the West Finish, and the fifth-longest of all time.)A 2008 movie adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried – the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation till final 12 months’s Depraved – cemented the musical, written by Catherine Johnson with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, as a beloved slice of significantly unserious popular culture, a standing not undone by its a lot much less profitable 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia: Right here We Go Once more. Judy Craymer, producer of the musical and its movies, has confirmed that an inconceivable third film is in growth, with Seyfried in help and famous Abba fan Sabrina Carpenter eyed for a task.And the music of Abba has morphed from probably risible artefact of the disco period to an inescapable pillar of celebratory dancefloors, rebounding across the English-language soundscape like its palindromic identify. Its placeless, magnetic tunes appear to have at all times existed, the Greek refrain of effervescent popular culture. The 4 members of Abba – Andersson, Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad – additionally dwell in perpetual youth as holograms within the in style Abba: Voyage digital present in London.At an almost full matinee exhibiting this month, a crowd that gave the impression to be largely out-of-towners or unique Dancing Queens greeted what has been billed as a “strictly restricted” return engagement (till 1 February) with the passion of people that didn’t appear to appreciate that Mamma Mia! had ever been gone in any respect. Which is to say, fortunately, warmly and with out additional fanfare. The manufacturing had the additional half coated; the second act overture, a medley of a number of the hits-only present’s high hits, was so abruptly loud that I jerked bolt upright in my seat, and I’m somebody usually soothed by the feeling of listening to loss.I managed to catch one of many remaining handful of Mamma Mia’s 5,773 performances throughout its unique run, and although I bear in mind the feeling of attending – enlivened, giddy, somewhat daunted – I managed to lose most recollection of the plot (it presumably additionally served triple-dose cocktails). Which is ok, as Johnson’s guide is a nonessential and enjoyably ridiculous narrative seemingly invented to string collectively greater than 20 Abba songs with their lyrics largely unaltered. For many who additionally want a refresher: a number of months earlier than her marriage ceremony, 20-year-old Sophie (Amy Weaver) snoops by means of her mom’s diary and discovers three former suitors of her mom, the fiercely impartial Donna (Christine Sherrill), who might every be her father. She invitations them to the large day, at her mom’s self-run Greek taverna, although none know the true purpose; Donna, a former disco singer, greets every of them (Rob Marnell, Jim Newman and Victor Wallace) with shock, an influence drill and an particularly spirited rendition of the titular observe. In a matter of hours earlier than the marriage, everybody seeks a really last-minute type of fact or former disco glory.This new rendition is not any much less spirited than its predecessor, although a bit smaller in stature, being a touring firm certain for Wilmington, North Carolina, in March. That’s most blatant within the present’s comparatively simplistic set – noticeably much less grand than your typical Broadway musical fare – and lack of a marquee identify, although the performers are constantly strong (and constantly drowned out by the music; something in need of a full BFA belt didn’t rise over the orchestra).However even a barely scaled-down Mamma Mia! packs a punch – a walloping of foundational pop from begin to end. It’s little shock that even in previews, the return present instantly grew to become one of many highest-grossing reveals on Broadway, up there with fellow musical juggernauts resembling Hamilton, the Lion King and Depraved. By the point of its ecstatic second ending, a three-track encore that will get all of the grownup characters into galactic disco fits for a straight live performance play of the hits, the entire crowd expectedly will get on its ft. Afterwards, an older girl behind me grabbed her associates’ wrists, arms overhead in a joint cheer, as if celebrating in a long-sought victory. And so goes the lure of Abba, a heat and welcome loop that by no means actually ends.