abba-solutely, legally fab!

i must confess, i'm a fan of the swedish group, abba. that's why when playbill.com offered discounted tickets ($66.50 for orchestra seats, regularly $123!) for the musical "mamma mia!", i walked to the winter garden theatre to buy tickets for me and my family.

the story starts in a small greek island with a girl named sophie singing that she has a “dream”—that is, to have her real dad walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. she’s never met her dad as she was raised only by her mom, but her mom’s diary reveals three possible names. she trusts everything to fate and invites them all without her mom knowing…and there begins the repertoire of abba’s songs weaved into the plot.

before the musical started, i overheard one of the kids behind us declare, “i’m here for the abba songs.” i had to smile. personally, it was all i could do not to sing along with the songs and ruin it for the rest of the audience--so i simply lipsynched to "chiquitita," "knowing me, knowing you", "mamma mia," among others. there is a satisfying kind of delight in knowing the songs that they'll be performing, and an even wonderful feeling when they ended the show with a medley of abba songs in their super shiny, "super trouper" costumes. at this point, everyone was on their feet and the stage seemed like a concert venue.

the paternal mystery should have easily been resolved with DNA testing, but i guess it wasn't that widely accepted at the time (?)...the story was set in the 90's.

they just made a movie (showing on july 18th) out of this musical too, and it stars meryl streep as sophie's single mom. but can she sing? it should be interesting.

i can see myself watching this musical again someday. if i had my way, (and a lot of money) i'd watch all the musicals on broadway.

three days later, i did watch another musical, "legally blonde" (another discounted deal) at the palace theatre with my lawyer friend. mtv has a new reality show where they search for the next elle woods to star in broadway, so i figured i should see it now while laura bell bundy is still playing the lead role.

apart from the pinkness and blonde glamour that elle brought to harvard law on stage, i marveled at the dynamic, elaborate set designs that changed fluidly with the scenes. the story itself moved quickly, too. "OHMIGOD" is indeed the accurate comment.

if you've seen the movie (and the sequel, as i have), you'll know what to expect in the story. blonde girl conquers harvard law in all her pink glory, all in the name of love. but the stage version is funny, upbeat, and full of "legal jargon" in cheerleader mode.

singer mya is performing at the "chicago" musical on broadway until july 13th. if you've seen the film version with catherine zeta-jones and renee zellweger, you'll remember that mya was part of that cast. maybe i'll go catch some "razzle dazzle" and "all that jazz!"