Mamma Mia

We're off to see Mamma Mia at Star City Casino in Sydney tomorrow.  It's in the Lyric Theatre, which is the huge three-level theatre in Star City (probably a better venue than the Ball Room).

We last saw Mamma Mia probably four years ago, again at Star City, and it is a musical you would want to see again.  I was a diehard Abba fan, even braving the weather at the Sydney Showground back in 1979, and just managed to catch a glimpse of them in the distance.  Mind you, we had no problems hearing them.

I've always been impressed by Benny and Bjorn's compositions.  They are usually quite difficult to play - a sign of true musicians.  Some songs like "Achy Breaky Heart" for instance, while selling zillions of copies, are only a few chords (in Achy's case only two) and dreadfully easy to play.  This is not a sign of good musicology, for sure :-)

The litmus test of a good musical is that you'll come away humming the songs.  "The Sound of Music", "Oklahoma", "Cats", "The Rocky Horror Show", "Grease" and "Guys 'n' Dolls" all spring to mind.  There are, of course, a lot more.  I reckon "Wicked" failed dismally in this department.  However, with so many number one Abba hits to choose from, the writers of Mamma Mia cannot fail to impress.

I'll let you know how it went shortly.