Mamma Mia! An odd place to start?

For my first post to be about "Mamma Mia", the stage show featuring the music of Abba would, five days ago, have been totally inconceivable. However, having 'taken one for the team' and escorted my sister to the Novello Theatre, London, in the absence of another family member, it feels only natural that I should write a nice long post about it. 

Now, I have been to shows on the West End before, but not for many years, and the shows in question were "Stomp" and "Spamalot", not what would immediately spring to mind. "Mamma Mia" was the first 'proper' musical that I have seen, and I must say I was rather impressed. Having tried every trick in the book to get out of going, including bribing the staff in the restaurant we ate in to completely mess up the ordering system, delaying us considerably, and TfL to manufacture a signal failure on the District Line (Ok - I didn't actually bribe anyone to do any of this - though it did happen!) I found myself taking my seat at the very back of the theatre, totally out of breath and just as the curtain was rising.

I have not seen the film version of "Mamma Mia" and despite the best efforts of my Mother and Great Aunt, have had limited exposure to anything by ABBA, so I relaxed into my chair, with no idea what to expect. What unfolded over the next 2 hours or so, was actually pleasantly surprising.

I'll admit, having taken a cursory glance around the theatre and seen to ratio of women to men, I immediately felt out of place, and as the first twenty minutes (ish) of the show unfolded I felt even more so. Now just to clarify, there was nothing inherently wrong with the show to this point; the singing was superb, the musicians in the pit top notch, and the acting, as it should be, worthy of The West End. My reticence was caused, in the main, by the jokes/gags/one liners/ implied humour being aimed at women. Not that it wasn't funny, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

However. As I began to get into the show, from it's rather stop - start beginning, I felt more and more comfortable, and dare I say it, began to enjoy myself. The plot, for those who don't know, is of a young lady just before her wedding. She has been raised on a (presumably Greek or Mediterranean) Island by her mother, and has no knowledge of who her father is. Having pilfered her mum's diary, she narrows it down to three possibilities. An American adventurer, and two English business men (presumably - the businessmen bit that is, they were definitely English). Now, for those of you who haven't seen the show or the film, I shan't delve too deeply into the ins and outs of the plot. Suffice to say she invites the three men to her wedding and proceeds to try and ascertain, which one is her true father, whilst at the same time trying not to upset her mother, or fiancé.

The way this, relatively simple, plot line expands actually rather impressed me, despite some rather suspect character names (Pepper and Sky being two examples - it occurred to me the show may have been sponsored by a soft drink and a digital television provider - or I am just being cynical?) and some dodgy costumes. We are, like it or not, immersed in the emotional dilemma the lead character (I believe her name was/is Sophie - shout out to my other sister there, sorry you couldn't make it!) is facing. I was equally impressed at the use of ABBA songs to move the plot along. Without changing the song, the implication of the storyline gives the songs a whole new meaning, and as I say I was rather impressed.

So, you may be asking yourselves, what is the point of this post? Well to be honest I'm not too sure. It was initially to be a review/report of the show and my experience as well as being a very well disguised admission that I enjoyed it! I suppose if I get round to it I may well write a serious review, and perhaps see fit to send it to a magazine. But at 9.15pm whilst listening to football, I'm not even going to attempt that now!

What I will say however, is that despite my misgivings, my evening spent watching "Mamma Mia" was in fact rather enjoyable. The theatre is beautiful, and the walk along the embankment equally pleasant. I will neglect to mention the £4 ice cream and £20 programmes, as I'm still trying to forget I freely gave away my hard earned cash for those!

So, I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the show itself is well worth a watch. The acting and singing is of the highest quality, the plot, once you get going, and get your head around the humour, is generally OK, and if I'm honest, it was, as Friday's go, pretty darn good :)