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"Mamma Mia!" on Broadway

 "Mamma Mia!" is so deeply strange. It is not a romantic comedy in the Nora Ephron sense. To meet Ephron's criteria, a pair of sparring lovers would need to separate, then reteam, then separate, then reteam. The End.


"Mamma Mia!" is more like a domestic drama, like something by Eugene O'Neill. A young woman--Sophie--wants to discover who her father is. Being unwise and still sort of a teenager, she decides that the best route forward is to get married (though she does not want to get married). The wedding will allow her to invite a few "suspects" (possible fathers)--so that she can do some "sleuth" work and expand her circle of loved ones.

Her fiance--bizarrely named "Sky"--is understandably upset when he uncovers this plot. But he still commits to getting married--for reasons unclear. The script seems to indicate that he is drawn to his girlfriend's "golden hair."

Sophie is so confused and troubled, but her story is played for laughs. At the actual wedding, she has a meltdown and tosses her ring aside. No one seems embarrassed for her; no one mentions the airfare involved (not to overlook the additional trip, the ferry trip) in this messy weekend.

I feel for Sophie; I hope things get easier for her. The writers seem to be closest to honesty when they depict Sophie writhing alone in her bed, in a kind of "asylum setting." She is having a nightmare in which the men of the island, dressed in black spandex with neon yellow "codpiece" panels, are shaking her and screaming, "UNDER ATTACK!"

I'm going to scratch my head for a while. This is a haunting show.











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