I Am Mystified By the Success of MAMMA MIA!

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:01pm

Why is it so popular? Is ABBA still as appealing as it once was? Or is it just for the campiness/nostalgia factor? I haven't seen the show so I was wondering.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:04pm

As much as I didn't like the show when I saw it forever ago, ABBA has some really timeless music, I think. In my own high school, among the endless iPods with songs and bands and rappers and all of the other music extremes there may be, there is always ABBA. ABBA has genuinely good music.

And the movie looks good.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:05pm

Half the fun is the completely obvious way they telegraph the next song. The other half is the completely, put-the-brain-in-neutral approach to it all. It's mindless fun that makes sure you *know* that it *knows* that it's mindless fun.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:05pm

The show will be celebrating it's 7th year on Broadway this coming October 2008 AND is still doing well in ticket sales AND the film-version is being released in 6 months while the show is still playing around the globe.

That should speak for itself as well as the billion dollars-plus in grosses the show has made in its worldwide productions.

[lildogs]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:06pm

I think you should research the term "tired businessman's show"

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:07pm

Haven't seen the show but are "mystified" by its success? Hmmmmmmmmm. What is wrong with this?

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:09pm

Oh don't be surprised. He also supports the idea that the only good part about RENT is that most of the characters will die of AIDS eventually. His opinions come from a good, stable place.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:10pm

I've seen it, oh, let's say 5 times, for argument's sake.

It's a fun show. It's not a substantial show. It's a non-stop-smile-on-your-face-dance-in-the-aisles show. The music isn't bastardized the way it was in shows like Good Vibrations. It's the same sound as the Abba music, almost down to the voices.

It's a mindless show that doesn't try to take itself seriously (a la Good Vibrations).

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:54pm

I saw the show on Broadway a couple of years ago. I was underwhelemed to say the least. I probably wouldn't be attending the movie if it didn't have Colin Firth in it. I really am mystified by the success. I just didn't find it all that fun. I have to say the movie looks alot better than the stage show. I'm not a huge fan of ABBA, but I don't dislike it. The whole stage show experience was just plain old OK.

[nealb1]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 6:08pm

Cruel...in all fairness to you......see the show first, then if you aren't too crazy about it, it's ok to wonder.

I've seen the show 4 times.....most recently a few weeks ago in NYC and loved it each and every time. Carolee Carmello is brilliant as Donna. I'm a huge ABBA fan and with the film version coming out this summer.....and, it looks fantastic......MM will continue to entertain millions of people worldwide.
Updated On: 1/15/08 at 06:08 PM

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 6:09pm

I don't get it either. I saw it once, on tour, and I was not impressed. Or entertained. Of course, I'm not an ABBA fan to begin with, so I'm willing to bet that's largely why I didn't like it.

[luvcaroline]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 9:11pm

The first time I saw it, I was with 4 other people and we all enjoyed it a lot, mainly because all of us were familiar with most of the songs and it was fun seeing how each song was placed in the story (this was our first jukebox musical). We had a blast.

The second time I saw it it was entertaining, but not as enjoyable as the first time, since I already knew the placement of each song. But it was still a good time at the theater.

I've only seen the show on tour.

[sally1112]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 9:24pm

well, it is quite mystifying.

[winston89]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 10:33pm

I only saw it once this summer with my grandmother who is in her 80s. She loved it as did I.

I think that it is generally just a flat out fun show.

It was written to be just that and is performed in the same manor.


It was never a show that was written to be taken lightly but performed completly searously.

It is a show that was just ment to be and is pure fluff.

[jigblob]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 10:39pm

It's really just such a fun, feel-good show that it's hard not to like it. Although I will say that sadly the Broadway cast is severely lacking in talent right now. I thought the touring cast I saw last April was better than the broadway cast I saw in january (except Carolee Carmello, who is absolutely fantastic). I thought The sophie on the tour (vicki noon) put on a much better performance than Carey Anderson (who did NOT move well on stage and I was shocked at how subpar her dancing was for a broadway show)

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 11:06pm

I'm not an ABBA fan, but I enjoyed it tremendously.

I consider it to be the theatrical equivalent of films like "Road Trip" and "Porky's" and "Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle". Films that fly under the radar of any intelligence and sophistication that you may have and entertain the stupidest part of your brain. And once the stupid part of your brain starts laughing, the intelligent part starts laughing too.

The thing that gets me about "Mamma Mia" is that there is no dramatic tension to it. As soon as the three men show up, you can figure out who is going to end up with who.

The only dramatic tension in it is when you see them pull on the rowboat named "Waterloo" and realize "Hey, I haven't heard 'Waterloo', yet? When are they going to sing that?"

And, too keep that slight thread of tension going, they don't sing it until curtain call.

[insertclevernamehere2]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 12:02am

It was actually the first show I ever saw on Broadway. I went on a school trip, and I have to say that it is a miracle that I still love Broadway after that experience. I really hated it on a level that is completely unprecedented and can't understand its success, even though I do know people who loved it.

[Urban]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 2:11am

You know as much as people dismiss it as fluff, Bjorn and Benny wrote some very good and well constructed music.

[logan0215]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 3:41am

This is true.

Being an ABBA fan having seen the show but not knowing the CR too thoroughly I can vouche that they really had powerful instremtation and song-writing skills.

I can put on the entire ABBA catalogue on random and just go about my business knowing that each song coming on has its own personality as well as stellar performances and, more often than not, a really fun beat that will get caught in your head as soon as you take out your headphones.

This is probably what, once transferred to Broadway format, made the music and overall appeal of MM so vast.

Updated On: 1/16/08 at 03:41 AM

[Urban]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 4:37am

Well said Logan.

I remember a documentary for Mamma Mia shown years ago that had Bjorn & Benny talking about when they where writing the show and re-recording/re-constructing songs, they where suprised themselves at how deep the instrumentation went in alot of the songs (since they often didn't write it down on paper before recording it).

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 6:27am

It's FUN.

What more could one hope for at a night at the theater?

Anything else is a BONUS!

[worrell4077]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 11:55am

I haven't seen it either and I have no interest in seeing it, but I'll make an assumption on why it's successful and it's basically what everyone is saying and it's ABBA's appeal and the music. That and it's probably one of those shows where you don't have to really think alot and you can just have fun and laugh.

[DaneSaw]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 12:01pm

I haven't seen the show, but I would assume that a lot of the show's appeal lies in the fact that it's a straight-up happy show. No one is having any serious teen angst, no one is dying of a terminal illness, no one's kidnapped and falling in love with their captor. It's not an emotional rollercoaster. You know going in that you're about to hear 2 hours of ABBA songs set to a story, so everyone knows that they're going to have fun.

That said, ABBA makes me want to shove a needle through my eyes.

[jlm96um]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 12:03pm

I saw it once because it was the only Sunday night show available at the time. It was entertaining, but I, too, don't understand its longevity. I'd love for a new show to have a chance at that theatre, although Mamma Mia will probably outlive all of us.

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 1:47pm

I've seen it four times, although I have to admit both the touring version and Dee Hoty as Donna lessened my enthusiasm for the show for quite some time. With the response that Carolee is getting, I may be ready to take a chance on it again.

I'm a huge ABBA fan and when I first saw the show in Toronto, I fell in love with Louise Pitre as Donna and I do think casting has a certain impact on how much I enjoy the show. I thought Dee Hoty's voice was all wrong for it and the woman who played it on tour (Jackie soemthing...I think she's in the Broadway ensemble now) took too long to find her footing.

When I saw "Xanadu," I immediately thought of "Mamma Mia." Featherweight, energetic and with a score, however recycled, that is pure pop pleasure. It's not rocket science or great art, but it is a lot of fun.