Review: MAMMA MIA! at Kansas City Music Hall

Plain old feel-good musicals are rare. The “Dancing Queen” of this limited genre is “Mamma Mia!” The 25th Anniversary tour of this truly enjoyable evening out at the theatre plays through Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Kansas City Music Hall in downtown Kansas City.

The 25th Anniversary Tour opened in Denver on October 31, 2023, and still retains the cast excitement and energy that is essential for this kind of show.  Everybody in this company is excellent. 

Leading ladies Christine Sherrill as Donna, Alisa Melendez as Sophie, and potential Dad Victor Wallace as Sam are as good at their craft as any actors you might see on the Great White Way.   You might even call the entire cast of this show “Super Troupers.” I think I just did. (Sorry about that).

The entire musical score of “Mamma Mia” comes from the catalog of a Swedish soft rock supergroup called ABBA.  ABBA were the initials of the two married couples Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who made up the group.   The group sang as a hobby, before winning an All-Europe talent competition in the early 1970s. 

Somehow, ABBA struck a chord with audiences.  Although not universally praised by critics, the quartet had a knack for creating dozens of tunes that resonate. These tunes are almost all of the happy ear-worm variety.  You can’t keep them out of your head.  ABBA performed mainly from 1972 to 1982.  They sold a staggering half billion records.

ABBA was also known for their outlandish, colorful, spandex costumes.  Sure, the ladies looked great in the costumes, but the driving force was Swedish law at the time.  Only costumes that could not be worn on the street were deductible.

Fast forward a decade. A British theatrical producer named Judy Craymer approached Andersson and Ulvaeus about adapting the ABBA catalog of music into a musical comedy.  Spin forward another fifteen years and they hired playwright Catherine Johnson to write a libretto.  The result was eventually "Mamma Mia!"

Donna Sheridan and her daughter Sophie live and operate a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island. Donna has raised Sophie as a single Mom. 

Back in the day, Donna and her two best friends Tanya and Rosie were wild children of the Flower-Power generation. a rock group called “Donna and the Dynamos.”

Sophie Sheridan is getting married and longs for her father to walk her down the aisle. There is a problem.  Sophie doesn’t know her father’s identity. Neither does Donna for sure.

Sophie finds Donna’s old diary from the time when Donna must have been pregnant with Sophie. She identifies three likely Dad suspects from the diary entries and invites them all to the wedding under Donna’s signature.  And all the potential Dads accept! Oops!

The result is by turns funny, bawdy, sentimental, exuberant, and unforgettable.  The curtain call turns into an ABBA concert with the group’s greatest hits and the leading actors all attired in iconic ABBA costumes.

Sets and lighting are minimal, but just enough.  This production proves less can be more. 

The show ends with the entire audience on its feet. A good portion of the audience sings and dances along. They retreat to their vehicles with a smile on their faces.  

Two senior gentlemen were overheard chatting as they walked down the stairs. “You know, I remember when these songs were new”

I do too.  I suspect there can be no better review.

Buy tickets for “Mamma Mia” are available at www.kansascity.broadway.com/shows or by telephone at (816)421-7500.

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