BWW Reviews: MAMMA MIA! at TPAC

It's impossible to see Mamma Mia! and to not leave the theatre with an ABBA song in your heart...regardless of the outrageously contrived plot, this is one show that you cannot help but fall in love with! And no matter how many times it comes to Nashville to play the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Music City audiences will never tire of this infectiously engaging musical - as proven once again this week with the company's latest opening on Tuesday night.

Featuring the powerhouse vocals of an immensely talented cast, set against the visual artistry of Mark Thompson's production design, it becomes clearer with each performance that Phyllida Lloyd's direction remains relevant and fresh and that Anthony Van Laast's choreography is as clever and imaginative as the first time you saw it onstage. Clearly, this cast is completely committed to their performances - but more importantly, they are committed to ensuring their audiences have a wonderful time. After all these years, you know they could be just phoning it in, but instead they are performing their hearts out, delivering a theatrical experience that audiences can only cheer, their ovations growing ever louder and longer.

That was certainly the case during Tuesday's opening night performance of the national touring company's eight-performance run at TPAC's Andrew Jackson Hall. At the end of the second act, the audience was on its feet in a split second to show the company their utter joy, their complete love for this musical phenomenon. It may well be impossible to wrap your mind around - let's face it, how in the hell does the music of a '70s era band from Sweden manage to create such a visceral reaction? - but Mamma Mia! is one jukebox musical that will continue to delight audiences for generations to come.

Perhaps the even more surprising aspect of the Mamma Mia! juggernaut is the fact that Catherine Johnson's contrived plot continues to work so freaking well. Young Sophie Sheridan, on the eve of her wedding, sends letters to three men, any of whom might be her father, to invite them to the Greek isle on which she has grown up with her fiercely independent, single mom. Lovingly nurtured by the former wild child Donna, Sophie feels the need to meet her biological dad nonetheless as she struggles to figure out exactly who she is. Sure, the plot is sort of outrageous, but somehow it is exquisitely plausible.

Using those iconic tunes created by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus ("and some songs with Stig Anderson") to move along the action, to give Johnson's characters the ability to musically soar and to express their emotions so passionately, is actually kinda genius. The songs are rather seamlessly incorporated into the plot and you cannot possibly sit still when you hear the cavalcade of songs: "Dancing Queen," "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!," "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do," "Lay All Your Love On Me," "S.O.S.," "The Name of the Game," "The Winner Takes It All" - virtually every ABBA tune you've ever heard.

Rodgers and Hammerstein aren't spinning in their graves, Irving Berlin's legacy remains gloriously intact and Stephen Sondheim has nothing to worry about, but Mamma Mia! rightfully deserves its place in the history of American musical theatre. All you jukebox musical haters can just give it the hell up and give this internationally lauded show its due. It's freaking good, people!

Of course, you must give credit to the crackerjack company of actors who bring this joyful pastiche of musical mayhem to life onstage. Michelle Dawson's soaring vocals and heartfelt performance make her Donna one of the best we've seen over the years, while she's given able support by Liana Hunt's exquisitely sung Sophie.

As with every other Mamma Mia! Mounting we've seen, the characters of Tanya and Rosie (Donna's longtime friends who were once her backup singers in their "girl power" group Donna and the Dynamos) are the audience's favorites and Rachel Tyler, as the much-married Tanya, and Kittra Wynn Coomer, as the marriage-phobic Rosie, give tremendously over-the-top performances that are right on target. They deliver much of the show's comic punch and their vocals ain't too shabby, either.

As the men in Donna's life and Sophie's would-be fathers, this company has a trio of handsome charmers to fill the bill: former daytime TV star Matthew Ashford is travel writer/adventurer Bill Austin; Vincent Corazza is the not-so-straight straitlaced London banker Harry Bright; and John Sanders (who clearly is the best vocalist of the three) is American architect Sam Carmichael.

David Raimo, no slouch himself in either the looks or talent department, gives a fine performance as Sophie's fiance Sky, and Adam Michael Kaokept and Michael Roberts McKee are terrific as the staffers at Donna's island taverna.

- Mamma Mia! Music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (and some songs with Stig Anderson). Book by Catherine Johnson. Choreography by Anthony Van Laast. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Presented by the National Touring Company at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville. Through Sunday, March 7. For ticket information, call the TPAC box office at (615) 782-4040 or visit the website at www.tpac.org.

 National Company of Mamma Mia! photographed by Carol Rosegg

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