Mamma Mia Tour Review (12.13.09 2PM)

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/13/09 at 7:54pm

I saw the tour of Mamma Mia today. It was overall pretty good. I'll do a breakdown by actor.

Michelle Dawson (Donna): She was very good, a little quiet at times, but good. She reminded me a lot of Carolee Carmello, who I saw last year.

Rachel Tyler (Tanya): Out of this world. Her 'Does Your Mother Know' was electric.

Kitra Wynn Coomer (Rosie): She was very funny. A fine Rosie.

Liana Hunt (Sophie): She did a good job. Fine vocally. Nothing much more to say.

John Hemphill, Martin Kildare & Michael Aaron Lindner (The Dads): All good. Kildare didn't really leave HIS mark on the role. He was serviceable. Also, are all Bill's in the tour American? When I saw it last year on Broadway & Bill was Australian.

Adam Jacobs (Sky): Serviceable. Very cute.

Donell James Forman (Pepper U/S): Very funny.

**Pictures Removed**
Updated On: 12/14/09 at 07:54 PM

[tourboi]

Posted: 12/13/09 at 8:40pm

Wow. Good job. First you take photos of the show, which is illegal, then you post them on a forum that industry people read. Smart.

As for the Dad's, Bill is Australian, Harry is English. It's like that in all US productions past, and present. Maybe their accents were just bad.

[blueq123]

Posted: 12/13/09 at 9:51pm

Actually, for all North American productions of MAMMA MIA!, they have changed the role of Bill Austin from Australian to American. They have changed a few of his lines in the script to reflect this.

[tourboi]

Posted: 12/13/09 at 10:58pm

Really? Must be a new thing. I saw the tour last year and the role was still Australian. Weird.

[Felm_heart]

Posted: 12/13/09 at 11:05pm

How is it possible to post enough to become a "Broadway Legend" and not understand that posting pictures from a show is bad?

Anyway, I'm glad that the tour isn't terrible. I'm seeing it this coming March.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/13/09 at 11:28pm

As for the Dad's, Bill is Australian, Harry is English. It's like that in all US productions past, and present. Maybe their accents were just bad.

-----

Actually, for all North American productions of MAMMA MIA!, they have changed the role of Bill Austin from Australian to American. They have changed a few of his lines in the script to reflect this.

Yeah, because I was going to say that the Bill said explicitly that he was America.

I think it's stupid & should have stayed Australian.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 12/13/09 at 11:36pm

Egads. I just hope you weren't using flash when taking those shots (or disturbing others around you). Bad form.

Michelle Dawson, when I first saw her in the OBC of Ragtime, had quite a voice and was just beautiful. In seeing her in this Mamma Mia! tour a few months ago, it appears as if the tour life and 10 extra years didn't treat her (or her voice) so well.

I was sorely disappointed with her Donna. She was NOTHING like Carmello in acting choice or vocals. 'Winner Takes All' was cringe-worthy. She just sounded like she couldn't mask the bridge between her head and chest voice very well and when going into a full-on belt, she lacked breath support. Perhaps she was ill when I saw her, but prior and future reviews of her Donna seem to agree with what I saw.

Bill Austin is still an Aussie. Nothing's changed.




BN

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/13/09 at 11:43pm

Bill isn't an Aussie. As I said, the character said that he was from AMERICA.

Egads. I just hope you weren't using flash when taking those shots (or disturbing others around you). Bad form.

Of course I didn't use a flash. Everyone was already up dancing & singing along.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/14/09 at 12:42am

Michelle Dawson, when I first saw her in the OBC of Ragtime,

I knew that name sounded familiar, and I couldn't quite place her. Thanks for reminding me.

By the way, if you saw her as Evelyn Nesbitt on Broadway then you saw her as an understudy. Evelyn was played on Broadway by Lynette Perry, Janine LaManna, and Michelle Ragusa. I believe Dawson did either the tour or Chicago full-time.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/14/09 at 12:46am

Her bio says Chicago.

[tourboi]

Posted: 12/14/09 at 2:53am

So they were dancing and singing (the norm) and you thought it was then okay to break the law?

Did you miss the announcement that says "the taking of photographs, and use of recording equipment is strictly prohibited?"

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/14/09 at 4:39am

So, he took a picture. Who cares? People take pictures of curtain calls all the time. I'm not saying it's right or appropriate or that I would do it myself, but why be so uptight about it?

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 12/14/09 at 4:49am

You heard the announcement at the beginning. You heard the announcement at intermission. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

[blueq123]

Posted: 12/14/09 at 8:13am

BenjaminNicholas2, it HAS changed. Go see the Broadway production or the tour; Bill Austin is now American. This change occurred within the last few months.

[musicalsFan]

Posted: 12/14/09 at 10:10am

So, he took a picture. Who cares? People take pictures of curtain calls all the time. I'm not saying it's right or appropriate or that I would do it myself, but why be so uptight about it?

First of all, that is NOT the curtain call.

You're not saying it's right, but we are being uptight about it for saying it is wrong???? So, are we to just say nothing about it????

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/14/09 at 2:10pm

I saw this last night, on the fifth performance of the weekend. The cast was noticeably fatigued.

I can't really think of anything nice to say.

This tour needs to hire a personal trainer - and fast. The choreography certainly isn't giving them enough of a work-out, apparently. The road has not been kind to this cast. I don't want to see dumpy chorus members in speedos, thank you very much, I can do that at the Jersey Shore. A few of the cast members were outright obese. And this Sky was no Joe Machota, and the music did not fit his voice (though he was excellent in the Harvey Milk opera) and his costuming did him no favors. Most of the women fared slightly better, looks-wise, at least. I hate to be all John Simon aesthetically-obsessed about it, but there's not much else to do at MM but look at the eye-candy, as it were, and bop along to the tunes.

I was appalled that this was Equity. I've seen tons of non-Eqs over the years and this was much worse than many of them.

There's a lot more I could say but I think that's enough.

P

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 3/30/10 at 1:23pm

Bump. The tour is passing through town next weekend and I'm going to see it. To anyone who has seen the tour recently, what kind of shape is it in? Based on the things I've read here and the tour performance on the Tony Awards, I'm scared. What can you say... If you're a subscriber, you might as well see what you paid for. I'm just curious.

Updated On: 3/30/10 at 01:23 PM