If you’re looking for something to replace the endless loop of Christmas songs playing in your head right about now, then you may want to check out “Mamma Mia!” at Boston’s Colonial Theatre. The show includes all the ABBA music you could ever want, of course, including “SOS,” “Dancing Queen,” “Money, Money, Money,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and some 20 other pop hits originally recorded by the Swedish super group. An enduring powerhouse at theater box offices worldwide since 2001 when it first played Boston on its way to Broadway, “Mamma Mia!” has a score that will stay with you for days.
With music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and a clever and sweet book by Catherine Johnson, “Mamma Mia!” is set on a fictional Greek island where Donna Sheridan (a disappointing Michelle Dawson) owns and runs a taverna. Donna’s daughter Sophie (a sweet-voiced Liana Hunt) is engaged to be married to a young local, Sky (an appealing Adam Jacobs), and, before she walks down the aisle, hopes to learn the identity of her father. When her mother’s diary reveals that it could be any one of a trio of men from her past, Sophie decides to invite all three to Greece for her wedding without consulting Donna. The men, Harry Bright (played by standby John Michael Zuerlain at last week’s press night), Bill Austin (Martin Kildare) and Sam Carmichael (a bland John Hemphill) may not know of their possible daughter, but they do remember Donna and so they travel to Greece for the wedding as do two of Donna’s old friends from her days as lead singer of “Donna and the Dynamos,” three-time divorcee Tanya (a too-cartoonish Rachel Tyler) and the unmarried but still-open-to-the-idea Rosie (the game Kittra Winn Coomer.)
If you’re a romantic then you’ll probably overlook the plot implausibilities, and if you’re not, then you’re best advised to sit back and let one great, familiar song after another wash over you like warm waves from the Aegean Sea. A mostly solid cast takes mugging to an almost criminal level, but still captures the spirit and humor of these highly appealing characters. One of this production’s weakest links, however, is sadly also its lead. Earlier Donnas, like Dee Hoty on the first national tour, have blown the roof off the Colonial with soaring, thrilling vocals on the climactic act two anthem “The Winner Takes it All.” Dawson’s voice barely reaches the rafters, however, robbing the moment of its intended emotional power.
