Arts > Theatre

Mamma Mia!

Norwich Theatre Royal

03/03/17

If you’ve already snapped up a ticket for Mamma Mia!’s very first Norwich run you might have noticed that, like all good musicals, the Theatre Royal cautiously warn that “Some patrons might dance at this show”. If you’re not dancing when the curtain falls we would question your commitment to ABBA. And if you’re not into a bit of 70’s kitsch, you can’t stand a big dance number, or you’re not really into fun then this musical is probably not for you. 

ABBA’s  jukebox musical tells the tale of 20 year old Sophie (Lucy May Barker) who, on the eve of her wedding to Sky (Phillip Ryan), welcomes three men from her mother’s past to the small Greek island they call home. Having read about all the ‘dot dot dot…’s in the her mother’s diary, Sophie has deduced that any of the three could be her father, and she’s determined to find out which one so that he can give her away. Let the chaos commence. 

The show is choreographed to perfection; every single member of the cast from the named characters to the ensemble is integral. Sophie’s mother, Donna, was famously played by Meryl Streep in the 2008, and Helen Hobson who stars in this run (and first took on the role on 2004) absolutely nails the part. Donna is joined on the island by her best friends, and former members of Donna and the Dynamos, Tanya (Emma Clifford) and Rosie (Gillian Hardie). All three are fabulous, and manage to upstage the other trios in the story (the three maybe-fathers, Sophie and her two best friends, and Sky and his two buddies); Tanya’s Does Your Mother Know?, and Rosie’s Take A Chance On Me were just some of the highlights.

It’s pretty much impossible to pick a favourite song; ABBA wrote so many great ones and Mamma Mia! manages to frame them perfectly. You could easily list ten favourites without really thinking about. Some of the cast are undoubtedly stronger than others, but, like Piers Bronson in the film, a few dodgy notes don’t stop this being an absolutely cracking show. In the two hours ten traffic of our stage you laugh, you’ll gasp, and you’ll probably have a bit of a boogie. Go.