"Mamma Mia!": Theater -- Arts & Entertainment

Bostonians May be Singing "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"
Tickets for the ABBA Musical "Mamma Mia!" this August

"Mamma Mia!"
beginning Thursday, August 17
The Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St.

Tickets: $27 — $82
Ticketmaster: 617-931-2787
or at the Colonial Theatre boxoffice

Performances:
Tuesday-Friday 8:00PM
Saturday 2:00PM & 8:00PM
Sunday 2:00PM & 7:30PM

With total worldwide record sales of 350 million units, it was only a matter of time until Bostonians would see a musical based on the songs of Swedish supergroup ABBA.

Now is the time ... on August 17, The Colonial Theatre will host "Mamma Mia!", the hit musical which has had a three-year sold-out run in London. The Boston run of "Mamma Mia!" immediately precedes the show's October debut on Broadway itself, where advance chatter of "Mamma Mia!" is probably second only to the new musical from Mel Brooks, "The Producers."

"Mamma Mia!" is the brainchild of ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, who also penned the 1980s musical "Chess" with Tim Rice. The play focuses on two stories. "Donna", a forty-ish single mother, tries to relive her carefree days of youth. At the same time, Donna's daughter "Sophie" lives in traditionalism and romance, while planning her nuptials. In effect, the storyline is "Terms of Endearment" meets "Muriel's Wedding"!

The original ABBA (l-r), Benny Andersson, Annifrid Lyngstad,
Agnetha Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus

Of course, what would an ABBA-based musical be without ABBA songs? In "Mamma Mia", over twenty ABBA songs are featured, including the title song; "The Name of the Game"; "Thank You For the Music"; "Knowing Me, Knowing You"; and "The Winner Takes it All." Another song in the musical is "Dancing Queen", the only ABBA song to reach Number 1 on the Billboard charts in the US.

But despite the inclusion of 22 of ABBA's hits, be aware that while the music is the same, the signature lead vocals of Annifrid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog who hallmark those 350 million records will be missing from the live stage production!

It will be very interesting to see how "Mamma Mia" is received here in Boston ... in London, where it ran from April 1999, its entire run has been sold out. In Toronto, it broke local box office records. And in San Francisco, the show logged grosses of $1 million a week.

CB.

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