Mamma Mia! opened at the Orpheum with the ebullient, effervescent, campy and self-effacing road production by Abba's Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, with Alison Ewing as Tanya and Mary Callahan as Rosie stealing the show with their physical comedy and girl power. Knowing me, Knowing You; S.O.S.; The Winner Takes it All; Voulez-Vous; I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do and the nostalgic, almost Beach Boyesque Our Last Summer--The show absolutely lives up to it's promise when they say, you already know you're gonna love it. Meanwhile. The girls are at their finest and most slapstick with the hotel room scene where they try desperately to cheer up Donna, like frantic parents trying to coax an unhappy child to crack a little smile.
Indeed, Mamma Mia! uplifts and will make you feel sixteen again, even for those from the seventies who remember Abba's Waterloo from Marina high school songleader try-outs in 1974 and still have the 45 record . . . This show is all your favorite high energy rock harmonies by Abba strung together into a story about a free spirited young woman about to marry on a Greek Island at her mother's Greek waterside hotel. Petite Chloe Tucker plays the twenty year old Sophie Sheridan and pixie Kaye Tuckerman plays her mother, a free spirit and former singer, the fiercely independent Donna Sheridan. She's the only one who knows the identity of her only child's father among the three whom her daughter secretly invited to the wedding to give Sophie away.
The three acts take place three months before the wedding; the day before; and the day of the wedding. Kaye delivers the songs with vocal gymnastic power and she wears that Elvis jumpsuit like a dancing queen. The three former lovers seem to be all for one and one for all and are so much fun and each with his own accent, so distinctly different from each other with Paul Deboy as Headbanger turned London banker Harry; tall and fair Christian Whelan who looks like one of the Everly Brothers; and John-Michael Zuerlein the adventurous Aussie loner and writer. Paul and Kaye as former college sweethearts in Paris, Headbanger and Donna, reminisce about care-free days in Paris with the song Our Last Summer, it's really playful, sweet and romantic and one of the few softer numbers.
Happy Mahaney plays Sky, the affable, curly haired beau of Sophie and is in fine form. The cast gets to play off him with a ridiculous seaside dance number with the men in wetsuits and flippers. The whole Greek island beach and resortwear line of costumes looks so inviting, with wacky, campy choreography by Anthony Van Laast. I don't know how Phyllida Lloyd directed all this energy but she did a great job, especially casting Alison Ewing and Mary Callahan together. The band seems surprisingly small for it's big sound and volume with two keyboards and two guitars, drums and bass, directed by Bill Congdon. Sascha Jacobsen the bass player said during intermission rock bands are usually this small.
Mamma Mia! only plays at the Orpheum through March 4. Running time 2 1/2 hours with one intermission. The Orpheum is at the Civic Center BART station, 1192 Market Street at Eighth. Pictures in the slideshow.
Tattling
If I may get "Opera Tattler" for a moment, an older gentleman with his family in my row near the stage crackled candy wrappers after intermission. This is particularly offensive when in the orchestra section near the stage and in the quieter moments when there's a solo, even if it's a rock solo. Two young women with him kept talking because it seemed one needed translation from English. The good news is I was also sitting next to KGO radio personality John Hamilton who covers professional skiing, yachting and travel. This Mamma Mia! was his fourth production, having seen it in Toronto, the West End and New York. He loves this show, he says.
So, thank you for the music--tack sa mycket.
Tickets cost $30 to $200.
For more information: www.SHNSF.com
For more from this writer, check out CBS San Francisco's website under "Best Of" in the arts and culture section with stories such as Best Street Performers. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/category/best-of/arts-culture/
or check out Examiner.com's SF Theater or Opera blogs.
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