Mothers Day is almost here and I was wondering to myself, "Is The Musical Mama Mia" a Mothers Day musical? Similar to how "Die Hard" is viewed as a yule tide classic, and so on with other movies, I wanted to test and see if this jukebox musical packed with ABBA music was a good watch for Mothers Day after brunch. I have seen the stage show adaptation of this show, but have yet to see the movie, or the sequel to the movie that is actually a prequel.
For those who do not know, "Mama Mia", is about Sophie, she is getting married and wants to find out who her biological father is. Three men come and so does the mom's friends, the mother has a resort and hijinks ensue. By the end of the show and talks of weddings, parenthood, young love, current love, and just plenty of ABBA songs, Sophie decides that all three men will be her fathers and that she wants to explore the world, The mom then decides to marry one of her ex's and everyone lives happily ever after. Sophie has friends who just disappear after the opening and become part of the ensemble, the characters just sing sometimes, and as mentioned just whacky shenanigans ensue when Sophie is not on stage. Certain characters will comment on events, sing an ABBA song and then go on their way.
The mother in this show sings a couple songs with her friends, talks about not wanting her ex's here and then sings about or talks their time with each one. They reminisce and towards the end of Act 2, she sings about her daughter being married and Sophie asks her to walk her down the aisle and that's nice. The conversations in the show are mostly to convey jokes, solve the mystery and talk about the mothers past love life. Donna, the mother is an ever present character but her bond with Sophie is not really addressed. The show talks about as mentioned relationships, love, life, and money.
The setting is Summer and at an island resort that Donna owns, so beaches, cabanas, and fun resort locales are the setting of this show.
So because this is more about Sophie, and it only focuses on her relationship with her mother here and there, and the mother gets a couple songs, some of them being about her past love life. The answer I will say is mostly no. I say this because even though part of the show is about her love life, the main plot is trying to find Sophie's biological father. The whacky shenanigans take center stage and it seems the plot is more so a backseat for the music which is good music.
Some jukebox musicals can showcase a musicians career such as "Beautiful", "On Your Feet" or "Tina". This show falls in the category of having an original plot but revolving it around the music, making it fit in a specific way or coming up with scenarios that allow the song to fit the emotion trying to be conveyed. In this show for example Donna feels sad, so her friends remind her that she has still got it by singing "Dancing Queen" and saying she still is the dancing queen. Taking a popular song and writing a story around it.
Though there are a couple moments where Sophie acknowledges Donna as her most consistent parent, and Donna reflects on her daughter growing up. But those emotional moments are weighed down by impending wedding, love, being flirty, and any reason to sing ABBA music really. There are moments here that would make it a good Mothers Day movie or even a stage show, because I saw this live and I had fun. I accepted this for what it is, which is just goofy fun, and it was just that, a goofy, fun, night at the theater. I don't watch "Mama Mia" to feel deep emotions, or think about subjects concerning life and growing up. The parts that harken back to young love and past romances are sweet sometimes.
Perhaps the second movie might be better since even though I have never seen it, I heard it is a flashback and is all about Donna when she was younger and falling into these romances. The Summer setting does not invoke the feeling of Mothers Day and it being on a resort invokes more of a Summer vacation feeling. It feels like a Summer musical that talks about Summer romances, a Summer Wedding, and doing fun stuff with friends. I may have to look into the second movie, and even the first as it has been a good long time since I saw this show on stage. The music is great, but it's ABBA so of course the songs are catchy and memorable. This is a fun show, just not a Mothers Day show, at least in my opinion. There are moments that lead to an argument being made that it is one, but there is so much that those moments are few and far between.
That being said if you want a fun way to listen to ABBA songs without listening to ABBA, listen to the Broadway Cast album, I even pop it in from time to time, and enjoy it. No matter how often I hear it "Our Last Summer" will always be a downright jam for me. There are plenty of other great songs in the album too, it's a great selection. One that might help ring in Summer as we get closer to it, or remind us of Summer when the weather outside it is the opposite.
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