The musical that Benny and Björn wrote without realising it.

03 December 2001

My lovely wife took me to see Mamma Mia! for our "old" anniversary this weekend (starting next year, we'll use the wedding date). Suddenly it's cool to like Abba. I must admit that I always enjoyed their songs even though I was afraid to say so in high school. I am amazed at how well they have endured... and now that I know a little bit about music, I am very impressed by the grooves and harmonies those guys wrote.

Anyway, the story was written around the songs, and it worked really well, without feeling too contrived. Basically it is a musical play about a girl who is trying to find her father before she gets married, and about the contrasts between two groups of women (70's girls and 90's girls). It's like a conventional musical except that when the characters start singing, they sing Abba songs. But the songs work very well, and it's almost like they were written with a musical in mind.

Yes, there was lots of spandex and platform heels. We were even warned about it before the show started, right after the "please turn off your mobiles and pagers" message.