Mamma Mia! The Musical is here in Sydney

Sydney, get ready for the biggest dance party of the year! Mamma Mia! is back in Sydney with a refreshing new cast bringing life to the timeless ABBA classics. The catchy tunes, interesting story and ending on an upbeat note with crowd dance and sing a long favourites such as Dancing Queen, Waterloo and of course, Mamma Mia provides the buoyancy for this production. I’ve seen the movie Mamma Mia with Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried many times and I don’t tire of the music and story. Which is why I was particularly excited to attend the opening night of the Sydney premiere of Mamma Mia!

The story is about Sophie who has grown up on a small Greek island where her single mother, Donna, runs a taverna. Sophie goes snooping in her mother’s diary from some nine months before her birth, discovering that her father could be one of three men, though none would be aware of her existence. Pretending to be her mother, Sophie sends wedding invitations to all three men, certain she’ll be able to determine which one is her dad. They all accept and show up, which is not a welcome surprise for either Donna or Sophie’s fiancé, Sky.

Attending opening night of the Sydney premier of Mamma Mia! at the Capitol Theatre, Sydney. Wearing Camilla kaftan convertible dress to match the vibrancy of the musical.

The construction of the musical is clever, beginning with a lively overture of some familiar tunes by ABBA and ending with some guaranteed to get up from your seat sing a long and dance a long ABBA music such as Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia and Waterloo. The costumes are colourful and vibrant matching the casts energy on stage.

Some of my favourite scenes and acting include the one with Josef Ber playing one of Donna’s old flames, Bill Austin and Donna’s friend Rosie played by Alicia Gardiner. During the media call before opening night last week, Josef said to me when you are on stage playing as a cast member at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, it’s more intimate and you can hear every chip packet crinkling. I’m sure he would not have heard chip packets crinkling in that scene as people were clapping a long Take a Chance On Me. That scene was hilarious and very enjoyable to watch with some brilliant acting.

My other favourite scene was by Jayde Westaby who I would have to say Jayde’s performance in Does Your Mother Know? was a knock out, with a knockout voice and bringing an aura of maturity and gravity to the stage. Truly a pleasure to watch such a phenomenal performance. I saw that scene during the media call for the first time and thought “Wow! What a performance!”

The energy, finesse of the ensemble cast really lifted and supported the leading cast members on this stage performance and they were quite extraordinary. I thought that when I watched them during the rehearsals at the ABC studios but on stage in full costume, their energy was infectious.

The classic ABBA tunes in Mamma Mia! are earworms ensuring you have well and truly inhaled happy fumes by the end of the musical.

WITH: Sarah Morrison (Sophie Sheridan), Monique Salle (Ali), Jessica Di Costa (Lisa), Jayde Westaby (Tanya), Alicia Gardiner (Rosie), Natalie O’Donnell (Donna Sheridan), Stephen Mahy(Sky), Sam Hooper (Pepper), Alex Gibson-Girogio (Eddie), Philip Lowe (Harry Bright), Josef Ber (Bill Austin), Ian Stenlake (Sam Carmichael) and Stephen Anderson (Father Alexandrios).

See.Taste.Do attended the opening night of Mamma Mia has a guest of Lucky Star Media. All photography by See.Taste.Do and rights reserved.