Now here is a useless fact about ABBA, only tenuously connected with this show. Before curtain-up, there was the usual reminder regarding mobile phones etc, before a trigger warning that the show contained platform boots and white lycra. The reason that they wore such outlandish outfits was not a fashion statement per se, but came about for monetary purposes. Swedish tax laws said that you could only claim allowances on stage costumes, so, if the clothes in which you performed were also suitable for day-to-day wear, they were not deductible. You’re welcome.
Trigger Warning! Jenn Griffin, rear, as Donna, with the Dynamos; Tanya, Sarah Earnshaw, and Rosie, Rosie Glossop, resplendent in their lycra tax breaks.
I have seen this show twice before, in 2002 and 2015, in London and loved it both times. This production, however, seemed very different to those. The creatives were the same, as was the running time, so it could be my failing memory, but I think that there have been tweaks which turned it from a comedy into a farce and I also found the dancing to be more sexually explicit. The real difference, however, was the quality of the performers. In any musical, the singing is obviously important, but in one based on such well known songs as these, it is paramount, especially as there are so many of them shoehorned into the two and a half hours. Tonight it was variable.
Sophie, Lydia Hunt, shares the secrets of her mother’s diary with Lisa, Eve Parsons, left, and Ali, Bibi Jay.
For anyone who is not familiar with the story, it is set on a fictitious Greek island and concerns 20 year-old Sophie, who lives with her mother, Donna, owner of the local taverna. She is about to get married to Sky and desperate to be given away by her father, who was the subject of an affair and left before she was born, unaware of the pregnancy. Donna has always refused to discuss the matter with Sophie, the reason for this being discovered when she comes across a diary from the year before she was born, chronicling her mother’s love life. It transpires that three men could be responsible; the first, Sam, was an architect who drafted the plan for the taverna, which Donna built rather than go back to England as a single mum. The second, Harry, was a big noise in the City and the third, Bill, an inveterate traveller who had roamed the world ever since their liaison. Sophie has traced them all – no idea – and sent each one an invitation to the wedding, hoping she will instinctively know which is her dad. Obviously the plan doesn’t work, so she is none the wiser – and, it transpires, neither is Donna. That’s about it really as the whole show is just an excuse to perform a load of bangers from the ABBA back catalogue.
Spot the dad. Left to right, Mark Goldthorpe as Bill, Luke Jasztal as Sam and and Richard Meek, Harry.
The construction begins with Sophie telling her two BFFs, Ali and Lisa, of her scheme. Donna’s two best buddies, Rosie and Tanya, who were the other two members of Donna and the Dynamos back in the seventies, then arrive and catch up. Obviously the ‘fathers’ turn up and are let into the secret by Sophie, but sworn not to tell Donna that they have been invited to the wedding, a ploy which doesn’t last long. The remaining faction is Sky’s mates who all live on the island. These groups present ample opportunities to perform set pieces with their associates, as a full ensemble, or solo.
Sophie, Lydia Hunt, at her hen night.
The first act takes us through the stag and hen nights and the second covers the wedding ceremony and the unravelling of the denouement. It also culminates in the big finish with Donna and the Dynamos and the three dads, replete in ABBA costumes, giving us a few songs to which we began by clapping and then getting up to join in and dance, whilst simultaneously being covered in large white pieces of confetti falling from the ceiling.
Sky, Joe Grundy, held aloft by his mates in the flipper dance.
As a feel-good juke box musical it really can’t be beaten, it was just the execution I found disappointing. The singing was patchy, Sky especially was obviously cast for being buff enough to carry off the scenes in which he was scantily clad. His cohorts were fine, and their dancing was executed well, but it was all too comedic. Ironically, the one I recall from the London shows as being hilarious, was performed by the lads dressed in diver gear with snorkels and flippers, but it seemed to have been truncated somewhat here. Sky has to get into costume whilst his mates are doing the dance but they had just about finished before he was ready to go.
Jenn Griffin as Donna with the cast
Whilst on the subject of changes, in the London version Sam was an American, Bill, an Australian and only Harry, from this country, whereas here all were English, the only accent being Bill’s Somerset yokel twang – down south rather than down under.
The songs were obviously brilliant, I think that ABBA are everyone’s guilty pleasure, if not proud pleasure. It never fails to amaze me as to the fluency of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The construction of the sentences and the inclusion of slang and little used phrases, in what is their second language, is astounding. The music is almost operatic in some songs as well, which is probably why it lends itself to being made into a musical.
Joseph Vella, as Pepper, performs a mating dance to attract Tanya, left, played by Sarah Earnshaw, the three times married gold digger, who thinks the most important element to a wedding is the pre-nup.
I mentioned earlier about the singing being variable, this was not just between singers, but I found Jenn Griffin, as Donna, to be a bit weak in some songs, but when she performed her solo, Winner Takes It All, she brought the house down. My judgment could have been influenced, not so much by the singing, as the sound, which was cranked up to 11 for the whole evening, ruining what little nuance there was.
Joe Grundy as Sky and Lydia Hunt as Sophie walk off into the night.
Look, take no notice of me, I’m a cranky old man so go along and make your own mind up. I probably shouldn’t have compared this touring version with the West End one, where the cheap seats would be pushing a hundred quid a pop nowadays, but it is difficult not to. Whilst writing, it struck me that my first experience of the show was from before the film was released, and that was not performed by the most accomplished singers in the world, the acting being given priority, so, as that aspect was up to scratch here, the emphasis may also have shifted in the theatre over the past couple of decades. Mamma Mia! indeed.
Mamma Mia! is at Leeds Grand Theatre until 27th June. For more details and to book, go to https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/mamma-mia-2026
To see what else is on at Leeds Heritage Theatres it is https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/?genre=live
Photography by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg
Tyke It To The Limit 