‘Mamma Mia!’ makes audience dance

The music of ABBA had audience members on their feet and singing along in the rows of the IU Auditorium this weekend.

The “Mamma Mia!” cast filled the stage with energy during the two-act production, and  following the play’s tradition, the cast provided a three-song set encore that got many audience members dancing.

Freshmen Alesondra Mora, Felisha Clark and Taylor Brian saw the show together.
“It’s a little different seeing the stage version,” Mora said.

Clark said her favorite scene was “Lay All Your Love on Me,” which was complete with men dancing in scuba suits and flippers, a recurring costume choice that reflects the play’s Greek island location.

The show, which follows 20-year-old Sophie as she prepares for her wedding, opens with Sophie alone on stage preparing to send off three wedding invitations. Sophie is prepared to have the perfect wedding, which includes her father walking her down the aisle.

However, there’s one glitch: Sophie has no idea who her father is.

After reading her mom’s diary, Sophie sends out invitations to her three potential fathers: Sam Carmichael, Bill Austin and Harry Bright.

When Sophie’s two best friends Lisa and Ali arrive the day before the wedding, Sophie informs them of her plan to find her father.

“I want the perfect wedding,” Sophie says during the play. “And I want my dad to give me away.”

The plot thickens when Donna, Sophie’s mother, sees Sam, Bill and Harry for the first time in 20 years. As Michelle Dawson, who played Donna, broke out into the famous song “Mamma Mia!” the soft murmur of audience members singing along was audible throughout the auditorium.

Donna, who had never told her two best friends about her daughter’s three potential dads, seeks comfort from her old bandmates during the song “Chiquitita.” Her friends, trying to console her, ask if she’s sure that Harry, Sam and Bill are the men from the summer 20 years ago.

“Of course I’m sure!” Donna replies. “Do you think I’d forget my daughter’s dads?”
And the potential dads certainly haven’t forgotten Donna. Harry, known as Headbanger back in the day, is now a businessman looking for more spontaneity in his life. Bill, an author and adventurer, claims to always live life on the edge and never be tied down.

Then there’s Sam, an architect who left the island 20 years ago but has never really let go.

The first act draws to a close when Sophie realizes she has no idea which of the three men is her actual father, and each approaches Sophie separately, tells her he is her father and asks to walk her down the aisle. Sophie, overwhelmed, tells them all yes.

All this takes place during the energetic dance scene of “Voulez Vous,” complete with the male chorus members’ return in scuba outfits and flippers.

The complications only increase as the day of the wedding arrives. Act Two includes the dance number “Does Your Mother Know” and popular ABBA hits “S.O.S.” and “Knowing Me, Knowing You.”

Bloomington resident Sarah Edwards and her friend Erin Smith said they had never seen the show live.

“I thought it was great,” Edwards said.

Smith, who had seen the movie, thought the stage show was very similar but had its own interesting aspects.

“It’s much more interesting live,” Smith said. “I actually wanted to start singing. I didn’t think that would come over me.”