The juggernaut that is “Mamma Mia!” — the jukeboxiest of jukebox musicals — is in the Bay Area for a brief run and a must-see for ABBA fans.
The wacky, feel-good show about a single middle-aged mom and her bride-to-be daughter who secretly invites her three possible fathers to a Greek island for her wedding is at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre —not far from the Orpheum, where it had its 2000 U.S. premiere. (The 1999 world premiere was in London.) Next week, the North American tour moves to San Jose.
On opening night Tuesday, the adoring audience sang along with gusto to the title tune as mom Donna is shocked to see three men from her past show up after decades at the tavern she owns.
High jinks ensue as Donna, daughter Sophie and her fiance Sky, and all their friends and acquaintances scurry and sashay in efforts to sort things out in the sunny clime (jaunty in swimwear or brightly colored togs).
ABBA songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ earworm-y hits, shoehorned into Catherine Johnson’s delightfully preposterous book, don’t stop coming.
Though “Thank You for the Music” isn’t among the 1970s Swedish pop group’s best-known songs, its theme (What would life be without a song or dance?) nicely encapsulates the message, if there is one, in “Mamma Mia!”.
Under the helm of original director Phyllida Lloyd and choreographer Anthony Van Laast, members of the touring cast look and sound great, and each gets at least one juicy number. Christine Sherrill as Donna (Meryl Streep had the role in the big 2008 movie) brings the house down with the failed-romance tune “The Winner Takes It All” (said to inspire the show’s creation, according to producer Judy Craymer), while Alisa Melendez as Sophie (Amanda Seyfried in the movie) solos nicely at the outset, end, and particularly in the hilarious Act 2 nightmare sequence, “Under Attack.”
Donna and her pals Tanya (Jalynn Steele) and Rose (Carly Sakolove) are wild in “Dancing Queen” and “Super Trouper,” while Steele and Sakolove get naughty, respectively, in the nearly R-rated “Does Your Mother Know?” and “Take a Chance on Me.”
Victor Wallace as Sam belts “S.O.S.” with Donna and is in the spotlight on “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” clearly besting Pierce Brosnan in the screen version.
Unsurprisingly, things end happily ever after with a wedding, dance party and audience-participation encore reprise of hits (principals wearing sparkly ABBA jumpsuits circa 1975) and everyone, per “Dancing Queen,” having the time of their lives.
“Mamma Mia!” runs Dec. 6-10 at the Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor St., San Francisco and Dec. 12-17 at Center for the Performing Arts, 255 S. Almaden Blvd., San Jose. Tickets, approximately $49-$175, are available at broadwaysf.com and broadwaysanjose.com.