“Mamma Mia!”

Recommended *** I believe I have seen “Mamma Mia” somewhere in the area of 16 times. While I adore this play  written by ABBA ( music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus with some songs by Stig Anderson), I believ I have been spoiled by some rock solid local productions. In fact, some of the area productions have been better than the “road” and “touring” companies that have graced our Chicago stages. There is an old song with the lyrics, “how you gonna keep them down on the farm, after they’ve seen Paris?”. Well how you gonna make them love “Mamma Mia” after they have seen Marriott’s production?

The show is still a wonderful experience, and for those who have not seen it before, they will love what they are seeing in Music Theater Works’ new home in Skokie. What a joy to find free parking ! What a joy to not travel all the way to Downtown Evanston ( from our new home in Northbrook) and what a joy to be in comfortable seats with plenty of leg room and great sight lines!

After our non-theater period ( AKA Covid-19) getting back to “live theater” is not easy. We are wearing masks! We cannot bring food into the theater! We can enjoy ourselves! We can hear the music and in the case of this show, at the end ( during the finale) clap our hands and stamp our feet. Music Theater Works has picked the PERFECT show for bringing us back to the theater!

For those who have seen some productions, the set (Kristin Martino) will not be what you expected. The set is now the “taverna” and is easy for the performers to change with ease, keeping the flow moving quickly. For those who have enjoyed the full orchestra at previous productions, with the pit, we now have 9 musicians ( four keyboards) under the direction of Linda Madonia. They fill the theater to perfection.

While I enjoyed the production, I found some missing elements in the type of set. The electronics used to produce many of the songs sounded great, but novice audience members appeared confused by the “echoes” they heard. Directed by Justin Brill, the flow moved well. He did attempt some cleverness in a few numbers,. Some worked! Some did not! This company only runs a short time, so they do not have a lot of time to “grow” the product. Shanna VanDerwerker’s choreography was well done.

Our world has changed over the years. Race and gender are no longer important to the roles being played and by whom. I understand this ( to a point) and see the need to not push. This being said, I suggest you “go with the flow”, sit back and just enjoy this solid production.

The costumes by Rueben D. Echoles were wonderful and for the first time, they felt original ( not copied from the Broadway productions- great work Rueben). Aaron Quick’s sound and Andrew H. Meyers sound were right on target ( there seemed to be a problem with one of the body mics in Act One ( but it was fixed by the second act). I am sure that will be gone by next performance.

The play itself! I am sure that almost everyone KNOWS this story. The story of a young woman, who is about to get married, who has been raised by her single mother, searching for her birth father. In reality  the show was put together as a fit for all of the ABBA songs that tell the story of  Sophie (  the adorable Heather Banks) who is about to marry Sky (Ahmad Simmons) and yet knows nothing about her birth father. She finds her mother, Donna ( Alexis Armstrong) had a diary and it seems that during the period before her birth, three men were part of her life. She invites all three to her wedding in hopes that she will know which one is her father right away. What follows is a wild ride, a tale of love, laughter, friendship, memories and for the audience, a great deal of fun!

Director Justin Brill has found some very talented young actors/singers/dancers to bring this wonderful story to life.  Most of them were newcomers ( at least to me). The three former “lovers”/”potential fathers” were not even close in age, but with the addition of facial hair, they appeared to be. Sam was played by Andrew Fortman ( his voice has great range). Harry Bright is played by North Roy Homewood and Dan Gold completes the trio as Bill Austin. Gold may be one of the youngest Bill Austin’s I have seen, but his character is bright and on target throughout.

Donna’s two besties , who were alo her back-up singers ( in those days) are the sexy Tanya (Casiena Raether does a reasonable job playing off “Pepper”(Oliver Schilling) and Rosie ( Veronica Garza, handling the comic character with great zest). When Garza and Gold sing “Take A Chance On Me”, the audience “gets it”!

The ensemble is bright, young and energetic and with this play, for many the music itself is the “star”.. “I Have  A Dream”, “Honey,Honey”, “Thank You For The Music”, “Dancing Queen”, Voulez Vous”, “Knowing Me, Knowing You”, “Our Last Summer”, “The Winner Takes All” and “I Do! I Do, I Do etc and the list goes on- how can you not adore this show?

You have until August 29th to see this production ( as well as to get back to “Live Theater”) with performances as follows:

Saturday, August 21st  8 p.m.

Sunday, the 22nd at 2 p.m.

Wednesday, 8/25 1 p.m.

Friday 8/27 at 8 p.m.

Saturday the 28th at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Sunday the 29th at 2 p.m.

Tickets range from $39 to $48

under 25, half off

call 847-673-6300 or visit www.MusicTheaterWorks.com/Mamma-Mia

NEW LOCATION:

North Shore Center For The Performing Arts in Skokie

9501 Skokie Blvd. with plenty of free parking.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Mamma-Mia”

running time 2 hours and 10 minutes with one intermission. ALL CDC policies are followed, so please wear your masks