{"data":{"id":"d28c9aba-4001-4088-b44f-3439518fed82","originKind":"SYNDICATED","title":"Review: Mamma Mia! full of high energy, classic ABBA songs","summary":"It‘s imperative that we note in this review of Mamma Mia! that Sid Vicious was a huge ABBA fan.\n\nImperative because it’s impossible for those under a certain age to understand just how huge the Swedish pop band’s reach was in their late ‘70s heyday, and most importantly how we’ve never fully escaped it. Even the bassist for the Sex Pistols idolized them, to the degree that he nearly threw up on them in nervousness when they crossed paths. Now, a new generation is beginning to understand the power of ABBA as the nearly three decade old musical loosely based on their songs keeps pressing forward.\n\nThe plot is simple. There’s a Greek island, a feisty hotel owner and former singer named Donna (Jessica Crouch), her soon to be wed daughter Sophie (Juliette M. Ojeda), and the three men who Sophie has invited to the wedding in an attempt to find out which one is her biological father. ABBA numbers with bare lyrical relation to the story are sprinkled on top, invoking nostalgia and fun.\n\nFrothy, unpretentious stuff, which is likely why it survives and continues to thrive through an unending theatrical tour and series of hit movies. The current tour delivers exactly what you’d expect: high energy dance numbers, mild humour that wouldn’t be out of place in a late ‘70s sitcom, and at least one sequence involving the waving around of a power tool. That was my third favourite moment in Mamma Mia!, only because I was disappointed that the power tool in question wasn’t used.\n\nWe’ve established that enjoyment of Mamma Mia! must necessarily involve parking your brain for two-and-a-half-hours. That doesn’t lessen the production’s highlights, which includes a randy little dance off between Donna’s diva pal Tanya (Jalynn Steele) and bartender Pepper (Dominic Young) to the tune of Does Your Mother Know. The placement of Dancing Queen will not surprise you, but the comedic use of Take a Chance On Me might, especially with the very funny Carly Sakolove (as Rosie) delivering the lines.\n\nUnless you’re a devout fan of ABBA or Mamma Mia! it is possible that your eyes will glaze over during some of the sequences. As an example, I’ve already forgotten what was happening during SOS, and Voulez-Vous just went flying right past me. The little side notes about getting older while trying to recapture your youth? Okay, that got a slight chuckle or two.\n\nAt moments like that I like to turn to words of wisdom spoken to me by country legend Charlie Daniels to the effect that not everything is made for everyone. If the man who won a golden fiddle while playing against the devil feels that way, then I’m going to take his advice and note the parts where I was in danger of dozing off were enthusiastically received by the audience. I’ll say it again: not everything is made for everyone.\n\nSomewhere in an alternate universe there’s a critically acclaimed ABBA jukebox musical where Waterloo and The Winner Takes It All bookends the final days of Napoleon. In that universe they didn’t get to see Chiquitita repurposed as a tender lament towards Donna from her friends Tanya and Rosie, or Money, Money, Money aptly sung in the midst of detailing the long, hard days of being an independent hotelier. So, while I would love to have seen Super Trouper as an ode to the Duke of Wellington, I would not want Mamma Mia! fans to miss moments that are indelible to them.\n\nI would still like to suggest that the producers might be missing a real opportunity here to wed history and Swedish pop. Contact me for more hit musical theatre ideas at this newspaper.\n\nMamma Mia! Where: Jubilee Auditorium\n\nWhen: Until Sunday, May 17\n\nTickets: $70 and up, available in advance from Ticketmaster\n\nRelated Review: Workshop West ends season on high note with Everyone is Doing Fine\n\nReview: Cyrano de Bergerac proves to be the best of the season for The Citadel\n\nBookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.\n\nYou can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.","url":"https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/review-mamma-mia-broadway-across-canada-edmonton","imageUrl":"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/mamma-mia-2-2026-1-_303104923.jpg","publishedAt":"2026-05-13T21:38:16.000Z","sourceLabel":"Edmonton Journal Music","tags":["Entertainment","Local Arts","Theatre"],"authorName":"Tom Murray","contentHtml":"\"Jessica

It‘s imperative that we note in this review of Mamma Mia! that Sid Vicious was a huge ABBA fan.

Imperative because it’s impossible for those under a certain age to understand just how huge the Swedish pop band’s reach was in their late ‘70s heyday, and most importantly how we’ve never fully escaped it. Even the bassist for the Sex Pistols idolized them, to the degree that he nearly threw up on them in nervousness when they crossed paths. Now, a new generation is beginning to understand the power of ABBA as the nearly three decade old musical loosely based on their songs keeps pressing forward.

The plot is simple. There’s a Greek island, a feisty hotel owner and former singer named Donna (Jessica Crouch), her soon to be wed daughter Sophie (Juliette M. Ojeda), and the three men who Sophie has invited to the wedding in an attempt to find out which one is her biological father. ABBA numbers with bare lyrical relation to the story are sprinkled on top, invoking nostalgia and fun.

Frothy, unpretentious stuff, which is likely why it survives and continues to thrive through an unending theatrical tour and series of hit movies. The current tour delivers exactly what you’d expect: high energy dance numbers, mild humour that wouldn’t be out of place in a late ‘70s sitcom, and at least one sequence involving the waving around of a power tool. That was my third favourite moment in Mamma Mia!, only because I was disappointed that the power tool in question wasn’t used.

We’ve established that enjoyment of Mamma Mia! must necessarily involve parking your brain for two-and-a-half-hours. That doesn’t lessen the production’s highlights, which includes a randy little dance off between Donna’s diva pal Tanya (Jalynn Steele) and bartender Pepper (Dominic Young) to the tune of Does Your Mother Know. The placement of Dancing Queen will not surprise you, but the comedic use of Take a Chance On Me might, especially with the very funny Carly Sakolove (as Rosie) delivering the lines.

Unless you’re a devout fan of ABBA or Mamma Mia! it is possible that your eyes will glaze over during some of the sequences. As an example, I’ve already forgotten what was happening during SOS, and Voulez-Vous just went flying right past me. The little side notes about getting older while trying to recapture your youth? Okay, that got a slight chuckle or two.

At moments like that I like to turn to words of wisdom spoken to me by country legend Charlie Daniels to the effect that not everything is made for everyone. If the man who won a golden fiddle while playing against the devil feels that way, then I’m going to take his advice and note the parts where I was in danger of dozing off were enthusiastically received by the audience. I’ll say it again: not everything is made for everyone.

Somewhere in an alternate universe there’s a critically acclaimed ABBA jukebox musical where Waterloo and The Winner Takes It All bookends the final days of Napoleon. In that universe they didn’t get to see Chiquitita repurposed as a tender lament towards Donna from her friends Tanya and Rosie, or Money, Money, Money aptly sung in the midst of detailing the long, hard days of being an independent hotelier. So, while I would love to have seen Super Trouper as an ode to the Duke of Wellington, I would not want Mamma Mia! fans to miss moments that are indelible to them.

I would still like to suggest that the producers might be missing a real opportunity here to wed history and Swedish pop. Contact me for more hit musical theatre ideas at this newspaper.

Mamma Mia!

Where: Jubilee Auditorium

When: Until Sunday, May 17

Tickets: $70 and up, available in advance from Ticketmaster

Related

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You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.

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