We arrived in NYC last Monday and stayed until Thursday morning. I wanted to cram the visit as full of stuff as possible, including shows. I was a little worried, because although I personally see no problem with spending my days in darkened theaters, my dear friend might not have agreed with my plans. As I planned the trip, my list of must-sees dwindled - mainly because so many of them closed in the meantime - A Little Night Music (we were a few weeks too early to see Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch take over in this show.), God of Carnage and Sondheim on Sondheim were a few on my list that closed before we got to town. I also wanted to see American Idiot, La Cage, Promises, Promises and Everyday Rapture. The nerd in me wanted to go to the Addams Family to see what had been changed since I saw it here in Chicago. So much to see, so little time. In the end, we decided on two - Mamma Mia! (one of the rare shows open on Monday) and American Idiot.
I love, love, love, love, love, Mamma Mia! I've seen it twice here in Chicago, the first time was at the Auditorium Theater and the second, last January, in Rosemont, and I just love it to pieces. I'd been wanting to see it on Broadway, just because I thought it would be a great evening of big, splashy fun.
And it was. The cast was wonderful, the best I have seen, and included Beth Leavel as Donna. She was amazing. She sang her face off, she was hilariously funny. The rest of the cast was good as well and included John Dossett as Sam - he also played Herbie in the Bernadette Peters Gypsy - I was so sure I recognized his voice from somewhere, and after a phrase in "Knowing Me, Knowing You" I was like "Herbie!!" I had been a little nervous about our Sophie, as her bio indicated she'd been on the recent national tour - and the Sophie we saw in Rosemont SUCKED a whole bunch - but it was not this girl, Natalie Gallo, who was a fantastic Sophie.
The plot, let's face it, is completely ridiculous but WHO CARES? The music is happy, cheery froth, and there is nothing better than standing up at the end and singing "Waterloo" with the rest of the audience and the cast in their awesome metallic 70s gear. The thing that still bothers me, that I notice every single time, is the line in "Thank you for the Music" which is the original and goes "I've been so lucky, I am the girl with golden hair" when Sophie is not actually golden haired. I just sit there and go, no, you're not. The logo bride isn't golden haired either, so I'm not sure what's up with that. Is she singing "Thank you for the Music" as a song that she learned from her mom? But it seems to be delivered like the rest of the songs, as the character's dialogue, and the rest of it seems to fit - "mother says I was a dancer before I could walk..." etc. So I don't know. I guess it is not one of those things that we are supposed to think too much about.
It is such a feel good show, I left the theater on a cloud of ABBA-induced euphoria. How can I resist you, indeed.
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