The hit musical Mamma Mia! is back in Singapore after five years for a quick 2-week-plus run at the Sands Theatre in Marina Bay Sands. The musical will play until 2nd November 2024, and is the third time it plays in our shores after its debut 2014 and a second run in 2018. For some of us, this is already old news. The missus might have already been in our ear for weeks now to take her to see it.
For those who haven’t seen it, Mamma Mia! follows Sophie (played brilliantly by newcomer Jess Michelmore), a 20-year-old girl British girl who grew up in her mother’s taverna on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi. In the lead up to her wedding, she invites three of her mother’s former lovers (architect Sam Carmichael, banker Harry Bright and writer/adventurer Bill Austin) with the intention of figuring out who among the three was her father. Interspersed within the narrative are the timeless hits of ABBA, some completely spot-on, some capturing the mood of the scene rather than encapsulating the plot. But overall, Mamma Mia! is a good time – great family fun, with perhaps some guidance needed for the young ones due to a sprinkling of mature themes.
It’s charming, it’s feel-good, but that’s to be expected. We’ve all seen the movie. Is this production of Mamma Mia! worth watching? Perhaps.
There are musicals that demand a view every opportunity we get, whose universal themes and timeless appeal allow us to interpret its content in new, novel ways with every viewing. Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Lion King are some that spring to mind. Mamma Mia! is in the same mould – not by virtue of its narrative, but because ABBA’s music has a timeless, transcendental quality that speaks to the human condition.
The musical suffers from a few weaknesses in narrative – something even the 2008 film could not overcome when they gave the musical the Hollywood treatment. There are instances of rather obviously manufactured tension, there because things need to move along into the third act, rather than what is organic to the characters and the story. There are also a few things that the musical lacks when compared to the 2008 film. One is the charm of the location itself – Kalokairi, the fictional island in which the story is set, truly comes alive in the film, a backdrop that heightens the story. The sets in the musical are well crafted, but does not fully capture the allure of the Greek islands.
The jukebox musical format might also alienate some viewers. Admittedly, the format makes some scene transitions rather strange and jarring because of sudden tonal shifts to accommodate the songs. It also means, by nature of some ABBA songs, that there are a couple of songs in which one character sings to another character, and the latter has to stand still and merely listen. But the strong performances do cover for it.
And the performances are incredible, especially Jess Michelmore as Sophie and Sara Poyzer, who plays Sophie’s mother Donna. When the two are on screen, there is a palpable, lived-in chemistry – the weary, protective single mother who has given everything to the taverna and her daughter, and the brash youth transitioning headlong into marriage and adulthood.
Donna’s best friends Rosie and Tanya, who visit her in Greece for Sophie’s wedding, are played with verve and an electric charm by Nicky Swift and Sarah Earnshaw. Despite being outrageously entertaining characters in their own right, their roles in providing the emotional pivot for Donna to go from stressed taverna owner and mother-of-the-bride to electric Super Trouper was deeply compelling due to each actress’ personal charisma.
The three male leads are impressive as well – Richard Standing (for those who might find him familiar, he was Danny Hargreaves in Coronation Street) toes the line between obnoxious and relatable expertly as Sam Carmichael, Neal Craig exudes dorky charm as Harry Bright and Phil Corbitt’s Bill Austin is a loveable teddy bear-type. Each gentleman made the role their own, which is impressive, because most of us associate these characters with their movie versions, played by Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård respectively. Big shoes to fill, and they filled it rather well.
Its weaknesses aside, Mamma Mia! is definitely a raucous, rollicking good time. The audience were clapping and singing along through most of the musical, with some numbers compelling some to get up and dance. There’s an immersive quality to the musical that the movie does not have. By the end, when everyone – even the audience – is dancing along to the songs, it becomes a communal experience. And in ‘communal’ is therefore the idea of ‘communion’, that you’ve witnessed and experienced something transcendental with those around you. These shared transcendental experiences doesn’t necessarily have to come from a shared love for ABBA. It can come from identifying with some of the themes here – love, parenthood, the search for self-identity. They might not be expressed in a manner as universally identifiable as the musicals I mentioned earlier, but they’re there if you know how and where to look.
The songs are amazingly performed. Some standouts include Voulez-Vous (an energetic, raucous booked for Act 1), Super Trouper (a dazzling display of showmanship, singing ability and girl power), Slipping Through My Fingers (perhaps Sara Poyzer at her best here as she gut-wrenchingly laments the tragedy every parent has to face – watching your child leave), Knowing Me Knowing You (a raw, emotional performance by Richard Standing as Sam tries to impart wisdom to Sophie while acknowledging his own failures as a father) and The Winner Takes It All (which Sara Poyzer performs as a tearful rebel cry against how society views the woman in a breakup).
So if the missus is bugging you to watch Mamma Mia!, should you? Well, obviously – that goes without saying. But will you enjoy yourself? Very likely. If you approach it with an open mind and an open heart, there is a lot you can learn from the positive female relationships on display here. Why are their girlfriends important? Why is their relationship with their mother so formative of their emotional cores? What do they seek from a heterosexual relationship with a cis-male that they cannot get from themselves or the women around them?
As a man viewing the musical, Mamma Mia! raises these questions for me. It might not, for me, answer them in a satisfying manner, but it does challenge the way men think about women and our relationships with them. So yes, watch it. And have some fun with the missus while you’re at it. At the very least, Mamma Mia! will ensure that. But give it a chance and it might make you believe in angels, something good in everything you see.
