Mama Mia!

Went to see this musical on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre.   I had no clue what it would be about and this show would be my first Broadway show.  I had previously avoided Broadway because I imagine there would be a lot of annoying overacting.  And in the prologue, my fears were borne true but fortunately subsided afterwards for the most part. A synopsis can be found on Wikipedia.

Music.  Well, it's ABBA.  The only number I was already familar with was Dancing Queen.  But none of the numbers were unpleasant. I especially liked "Mama Mia", "Dancing Queen", "Winner Takes It All", and "Honey, Honey". Some were very ... Continental European ... such as "Money, Money, Money". "Dancing Queen" first makes its appearance in Donna's bedroom with her friends; however the mood and choreography was small compared to the song's awesomeness.

One thing I absolutely hated was the band. Not that they played badly but that they were so loud. So many times I caught myself wanting to strangle whoever was at the control board. Everything was loud loud loud loud as if the dynamic markings are all marked forte, fortissimo, or blastissimo. I relished the short periods of time when the band was not playing tutti. I'm guessing the conductor, players, and sound engineers simply have hearing loss from repeat exposure. One consequence of amplification is that some of the musical numbers started sounding really homogeneous. The singing was always in tune but the amplification made the singers sound bland and soulless. Same with the band; they could save money by having a computer play the music.

Dancing. As my first Broadway show, I was surprised by how much detail went into the dances. Every second is occupied in a movement, gesture, or facial expression. When dancers pair off, they frequently have similar but slightly different routines from one another. The execution was seamless, quality and variety is high but difficult to absorb in one sitting even though I was in the mezzanine with a bird's eye view. In summary the dancers and the stage setup exude professionalism.

At the end of the show, they dance to a couple number of the most popular Abba songs one being Dancing Queen. However, the choreography for Dancing Queen is very simplistic and anticlimactic; it is nowhere near even what I could imagine.

	Sophie Sheridan (Liana Hunt) Sophie is the girl to be wedded.  Having never known who her father was, she invites the three men who had "..." her mother (as recorded in her mother's diary).  Liana Hunt is why I had avoided Broadway: she seemed to be hyperventilating in nearly every scene and all her lines were delivered with grating whine.
	Donna Sheridan (Lisa Brescia) She is Sophie's mother.  Lisa has a wonderful voice and acted convincingly and really had my sympathies.  However there was no spark between Harry and her.
	Tanya (Stacia Fernandez) A thrice-divorced millionairess and one of Donna's old close friends.  She acted the part perfectly.  She was a joy to watch.
	Rosie (Jennifer Perry) A staunch feminist and one of Donna's old close friends. I loved her costumes but there was an inconcistency in her physical character. She initially moves like she is 20 years old; clamoring on top of people and moving with vigor. Except when in the script it calls for her to show to her age. This occurs several times in the show and is jarringly different from her initial presentation.
	Sky (Jordan Dean) Donna's fiance. An important prerequisite for this role is 6-pack abs and a chiseled body. . When Jordan first walked out on stage, he looked like a Ken doll with golden red hair.
	Sam Carmichael (John Hemphill) One of Donna's ex-lover. He had no spark with Donna. And he didn't elicit any sympathy from me.
	Pepper (Jacob Pinion) He is one of Sky's friends and appears to have a thing for older women especially for Tanya.  Jacob's acting and dancing was natural and absolutely perfect in this role.
	Father Alexandrios (Bryan Scott Johnson) He is only on stage for a very short time.  But what caught my attention was Bryan's hilarious dancing.

Eddie (Andrew Chappelle), Harry Bright (David Beach), Bill Austin (Patrick Boll), Lisa (Halle Morse), Ali (Catherine Rica) Eddie is one of Sky's friends and something about Andrew's physical presence and movements made him stand out from the crowd. Harry and Bill are Donna's other ex-lovers and Ali and Lily are Sophie's close friends. They did a fine job for their roles.

(All cast photos came from Mama Mia's official cast page.)
Conclusion: Good to see once. Not appropriate for young teens because it might be hard for them to relate to the adult characters.