MammaDoin'Fine

[Phantom of London]

Mamma Mia the West End, Broadway, US Tour and the rest of the world, box office smash, which I saw tonight at 8:30 for £20 sitting on the side of the Prince Of Wales, which gave outstanding views.

This show didn't win one Tony and only managed to win one Olivier Award for Jenny Galloway for best supporting actress, but then went on to conquer the world, then was made in a box office smash in the cinema and DVD and even my mum at the age of 70 went to the cinema to see it with friends, my mum doesn't do cinemas and she would normally refer to something like 'Abba' as 'jumping up and down music' and wouldn't be her bag, she normally listens to classical FM, but mum loved it.

I am not a fan of jukebox musical and certainly not a fan of 'Abba', I like there music but not enough to listen to their music and I acknowledge that this is a brilliant tourist show. So why am I writing this thread? Because I think the show is fantastic, the book is excellent and funny the songs 'voulez-vous' and 'The Winner Takes It All' are splendid pieces of theatrical art! But I imagine I am the only one who loves the show on here?

BTW: I wasn't following theatre when Mamma Mia opened at the Prince Edward Theatre, which opened on the 06th April 1999 nearly 13 years ago and opened at the Winter Garden theatre just over 2 years later (18/10/2001), via Toronto, San Francisco and Chicago, I wonder what the reviews were like over here and in the US? I bet the reviewers wiped the floor with this and dismissed it?

[Jonwo]

Mamma Mia! is one of the better jukebox musicals although I don't rate it as highly as Jersey Boys and Our House, I saw it at the Prince of Wales and it suits the theatre really well so it'll be interested how it fares at the Novello.

[ChenoKahn]

I think it's fun but I don't think it has a fantastic book but it is entertaining. It still has overstayed it's welcome, in my opinion.

[Princeton Returns]

I agree I love mamma mia. And at the moment it's in the best theatre for it, not sure if it will have the same feel at the Novello. To me it's the best of the jukebox musicals alongside Our House (didn't like Jersey Boys much). I'd compare Mamma Mia as a modern day Crazy For You, by that I mean both are jukebox shows with simple but effective plots, songs not too shoehorned in, and resulting in an evening of pure fun and uplifting joy

[devonian.t]

Lowest common denominator theatre.

The original reviews were fine.

[Princeton Returns]

But that's not a bad thing

[Spotlight61]

This show doesn't pretend to be anyhting other than a crowd pleaser and on that level it ticks every box.

It may not work as a piece of 'high art' but its remit was never to be that. However, its longevity is based solely upon giving the audience what they want, a wonderful escapist night out.

Too much snobbery is attached to theatre, at the end of the day it is a business and the drivers of any business is to make money. All any producer wants is to stage a successful show that makes a profit.

I know a number of producers, some who have a wonderful integrity and struggle to put food on the table. Others go the way of the crowd pleasing experiences and live a comfortable life.

That is why so much of the 'high art' productions are staged in small venues on a company profit share basis, where the risks are hopefully minimised to a manageable level.

Theatre is big enough to accommodate a wide and diverse range of offerings and long may it continue to do so.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see these 'fringe' shows develop an audience and achieve a successful and profitable run in a main house theatre but, in truth, theatre is primarily about giving the paying audience what they want...what they really really want, and that's a nod to the next big crowd pleaser from the Judy Craymer school of successful theatre production!!

[Princeton Returns]

^^ Brilliantly put Spotlight, agree with every word

[Phantom of London]

Yes, also agreed and so concur on your point that you have high theatre, such as: Sondheim, Claude-Michel Schonberg & Alain Boublil, Ibsen, Chaucer and Shakespeare etc and low theatre such as Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Henry Miller etc, we have enough theatres in London to accommodate all types of theatre.

[devonian.t]

Um R&H is NOT low theatre. On many occasions, it's about as skilfull as musical theatre gets.

[ChenoKahn]

So Claude-Michel Schonberg & Alain Boublil write high theatre? Eek...

[Phantom of London]

I would say they do write high theatre, although it is very mainstream, the subjects are quite convoluted, but I wouldn't say the same about Rodgers and Hammerstein.

[ChenoKahn]

I find everything they have written is fairly mediocre.

[devonian.t]

rolling on the floor laughing

[abitoftap]

ChenoKahn...excuse me?

[ChenoKahn]

I actually find it funny anyone would write that R&H wrote low theatre.

[Phantom of London]

If it is there is no shame in that and doesn't detract from the piece, it is like saying a show is inferior because the show run a very long time off Broadway and never made it to Broadway, where in reality there is no shame in being a long running Broadway show, same as being 'low theatre'.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Andrew Lloyd Webber writes "low theatre"?

[ChenoKahn]

Mostly.

[Phantom of London]

Clap: As I said 'low' theatre isn't a derogatory term.

[ChenoKahn]

I'm having trouble understanding your definition of low and high theatre.

[ClapYo'Hands]

I don't think it's really anything, is it?

[Phantom of London]

You have high and low pieces of art, high being the renascence and baroque etc and low is impressionism or cubism etc.

So I suppose a musical about a painting set next to the seine is pretty much high are and a musical about train races on roller-skates is low art, but both being extreme examples.

[ClapYo'Hands]

But a musical set in the Paris Opera House?

Immediately a flaw I think!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Aw! ..and there was me thinking you'd dedicated a whole thread to me!

[FrontRowDress]

This thread has got legs. Loving the definitions of low and high art. Keep it up fellas.