STAGE WEST
  • Home
  • About David
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Theatre Reviews
  • New Page

Theater reviews

Stage West

"Mamma Mia!" at Welk Resorts Theatre

1/2/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Misty Cotton (center) has been succeeded in the role of Donna (by Natalie Nucci, not pictured) in Welk Resorts Theatre's production of "Mamma Mia!"                                               Photo by Ken Jacques
            The new year marks exactly two decades since Mamma Mia!, the stage musical populated by the sugary pop songs of the Swedish group ABBA, debuted in London’s West End. The show, with a book by Catherine Johnson, would go on to mega-success, including a 14-year run on Broadway, a feature film adaptation and a sequel film that was kind of a prequel (“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”). Taken as complete camp, Mamma Mia! Is amusing, even hummable. Taken seriously, it’s … well, who takes it seriously?
            Welk Resort Theatre does, and with good reason. Its production of Mamma Mia! Is winding up a mammoth six-month run in Escondido. In fact, it opened only a couple of months after Moonlight Stage Productions in Carlsbad presented its own Mamma Mia!
            This show obviously has staying power.
            The Welk staging enjoys a cast of 17 and a five-piece band in the pit, along with more than enough outrageousness to sustain a two-hour, 15-minute show. Ironically, the most outrageous moments come after the story ends: The three-song encore concert by Donna and the Dynamos (Natalie Nucci, Nancy Snow Carr and Barbara Schoenhofer) has the entire cavorting cast clad in what could only be described as the best AND the worst of ‘70s “couture.”
            Besides Nucci (the mamma of Mamma Mia!), Snow Carr and Schoenhofer, the ensemble features the versatile David S. Humphrey as one of the three men invited to the wedding of Donna’s daughter, Sophie. One, she suspects, is her natural father. (Lance Arthur Smith and Mike Bradford are likable as the other two maybe-dads. All three sing better than Pierce Brosnan from the Mamma Mia! movies. Shudder.) The real star of the Welk production, however, is young Olivia Hodson as Sophie. Not only is she an appealing actress and a nimble dancer, but also a very promising vocalist.
            The roll call of ABBA tunes needs no elucidation. Suffice it to say that some, like “Take a Chance on Me,” function acceptably in context with the narrative. Others, such as “Super Trouper” or even “Dancing Queen,” are there just to escort ABBA fans giddily down Memory Lane. Plenty willing to be escorted time and again are out there, ensuring that when it finally goes, Mamma Mia! won’t be gone for long.
 (Review originally published in San Diego CityBeat on 1/2/19.)
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    David L. Coddon is a Southern California theater critic.

    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    August 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    January 2016
    January 2015
    December 2014
    January 2014
    January 2013
    January 2012
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Theatre Review

David Coddon

About 
David Coddon Fiction
Theatre Reviews

Support

Contact
FAQ
Terms of Use
© COPYRIGHT 2017. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About David
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Theatre Reviews
  • New Page