MAMMA MIA --THE MUSICAL

I spent a considerable time in London in the eighties and met a lot of women there. Some were married with a spouse and children; a few with a boyfriend and a child by him; others with several children from different fathers. But there was a beautiful woman who shacked up with a man with several children. So she became some kind of a surrogate mom to the latter. 

Was it a big deal having children out of wedlock? Not at all. The women all led normal lives, meaning, they lived, loved and laughed. They never worried much about how to feed the baby because the State gave them welfare allowances -- as a single mother, child allowance and cheap housing. 

This is the major focus of the play Mamma Mia, one of the longest running West End plays in London. Donna, a woman who had had three boyfriends and then got pregnant without her knowing who really fathered her child. She raised the child by herself and when the girl was about to be wedded to her boyfriend, she is reunited with her boyfriends. It turns out that the daughter had invited all the guys to her wedding. 

The meeting turned out to be a chance for Donna and the three men to sort out what really had happened to all her encounters with them. 

Donna also met her feminist friends and they swung their way in the play, dropping feminist quotes here and there. They exhibited also unusual relationships, one with a much younger man, and the other running after a man, a sort of reversal roles, instead of the man doing the hunting. The quotes were revolutionary in the nineties may be when it was first shown, but now they are rather commonplace already, that is for e. 

The story is funny interspersed with pop songs by the Swedish ABBA  composers Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.

Catch it quick at Solaire . You could also dance by your seat should you wish to join in the merry scenes. 


__________________________________________________________________________________Background:
Mamma Mia! (promoted as Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus' Mamma Mia!) is a jukebox musical written by Britishplaywright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. The title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia". Ulvaeus and Andersson, who composed the original music for ABBA, were involved in the development of the show from the beginning. Singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad has been involved financially in the production and she has also been present at many of the premieres around the world.
The musical includes such hits as "Super Trouper", "Lay All Your Love on Me", "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Take a Chance on Me", "Thank You for the Music", "Money, Money, Money", "The Winner Takes It All", "Voulez-Vous", "SOS" and the title track. Over 60 million people have seen the show, which has grossed $2 billion worldwide since its 1999 debut. A film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Stellan Skarsgård and Julie Walters was released in July 2008.e was not a moment of boredom at all, as the music of ABBA. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamma_Mia!