Wow.

How many times can you hear the song "Mamma Mia" in one night? I thought about that a bit last night, as I was leaving the basketball stadium in Tel Aviv that was transformed into a theater for the international touring company of Mamma Mia!
This musical is based on the music of ABBA. I've been thinking that I actually like their music more than I think I do, and I certainly don't listen to it enough. We listened to their CD on the way to the stadium, to get into the mood, and it certainly worked.
I was very curious about how they'd work the ABBA songs into the storyline of the musical, and I was so surprised at the result. The plot was completely built around the songs. I've heard it said that the storyline is kind of thin, but I really loved it. It's just the cute, fairy tale-like thing that makes me smile. And some of the best ABBA songs, from "Mamma Mia" to "Dancing Queen" really fit in, as well as any song fits into the musical it was written for.
I'd heard the audience was invited to sing along, and I have to say I thought that was a little weird. What's the point of a Broadway-level musical, if you can't hear the cast's awesome voices? But the singing actually turned out to be really nice, and the voices were quite audible.
So, the musical is about Sophie, who was raised on a Greek island by her single mother, Donna. Sophie is about to get married and wants her father to give her away. She therefore invites three men Donna mentioned in her hidden diary, who may be her father. She does this without telling Donna, and in the hopes that when she meets the men, she'll know instantly which is her father. Needless to say, things don't happen exactly as she plans... and I think I'll stop there.
It's so much more fun to see a musical when you know the songs. I saw The Lion King on Broadway three years ago, and it was great knowing the music, as I'm sure most of the audience did. But in Mamma Mia! everyone knew the songs, but nobody knew when they would come. So every time someone started singing, you feel this collective smile or cheer among the audience. It was really cool.
One last thing, apparently Mamma Mia!'s being made into a movie! That's one I'll be looking forward to seeing.