Review of the musical based on the songs of ABBA – Mamma Mia!

Shannon from the team at Sussex Local went to see Mamma Mia! at The Brighton Centre on the 16th August. It was a funny, feel good musical with well-loved songs to get everyone singing and dancing.

Taking inspiration directly from the film, Mamma Mia! is a musical to be enjoyed by people of various age groups, with the use of the timeless songs of ABBA that people of any age will have a blast singing and dancing along to.

Every cast member had an amazing voice, powerfully projecting it across the auditorium. The voices helped to capture each and every scene, filling the auditorium with the characters emotion or excitement.

The lighting was on point, adding to each scene to help the audience understand what was going on and add another layer to represent the characters emotion. The lighting was there to darken emotional scenes, show when characters were frozen in time or go crazy with colours during jaw dropping dance numbers!

The choreography was outstanding, with feats of physical prowess plus synchronised and fast paced movements perfectly in time with the music. Very high energy dance moves required for back to back songs made for a truly epic and awe inspiring performance. Left people in the audience wanting more!

The set pieces were very minimalistic, but they still managed to change the set pieces to completely change the setting of the scene and have them appear in a different location. These changes were completely seamless, and mostly happened after the actors had finished a scene. However, there were times when the set needed to be moved around during a scene, which still looked flawless thanks to the background dancers/actors.

The costumes were amazing, from the background actors’ outfits changing to fit in perfectly with every scene to the beautiful showstopping costumes that literally stole the spotlight. The costumes added to everything that was already in place, the excitement, the comedy and the emotion was all emphasised dramatically by what the characters were wearing.

The moments of comedy did not let down, having the appropriate level of humour for the scene and resulting in the audience laughing out loud.

An encore at the end of the show was sung with some of the more well-known ABBA songs that were in the play. Everyone in the auditorium was on their feet, dancing and singing along.

Mamma Mia! is a musical for anyone who knows and loves the songs of ABBA, regardless of whether or not you’ve seen the movies. A very entertaining and high energy performance with stunning choreography and amazing vocals to entertain people of all ages.