Mamma mia, indeed.
Yes, “Mamma Mia!” the musical, is still with us. It’s not a roadshow this time (we’ve had four of them here since 2003), but an Arizona Onstage Productions’ creation of the made-for-ABBA-music play.
The story is as thin as onion skin: Donna is a middle-aged hippie who is raising a daughter on a Greek island. That daughter, Sophie, longs to know who her father is. When she discovers an old diary of her mom’s, she finds that there are three possibilities. And she invites them all to her wedding — without telling mom, of course. The play, really, is an excuse to sing ABBA songs.
As usual, Arizona Onstage has packed the production with talent.
Liz Cracchiolo, a regular on the theater company’s stage, takes on the role of Donna. Other regulars, such as Kit Runge and Dennis Tamblyn, also help bring the ABBA tunes to life.
This play can be grand fun, and certainly the packed audience at the opening was having it.
But this production is not up to Arizona Onstage’s usual high standards.
Perhaps that’s a given — there are 35 people in the cast. That’s big. Really big.
When a play gets that massive, there’s bound to be uneven acting, singing and dancing. And there was.
Debbie Runge directed and choreographed the production. Rather, over-choreographed. There were several large dance numbers that were unnecessary, lacked precision, and were just exhausting.
We wish she had put less energy into dance and more into helping the actors connect with their characters. It was just hard to care about anyone on the stage.
The play wasn’t helped by a sound system that cracked at times and seemed muffled at others. Nor was it helped by the crying infants at the opening-night performance or the several folks who decided to videotape and take pictures during the play. Really, people, that’s just rude.
However, you’ve got some solid singers belting out ABBA songs. Fans of the music will be very happy.
