Take a Chance on Mamma Mia! at Neptune Theatre

In his Artistic Director’s message in the Mamma Mia! program Jeremy Webb writes about how he inherited Mamma Mia! from former Artistic Director George Pothitos, who programmed Webb’s first season as AD back in 2018, and how at first he was skeptical about this choice. I saw Mamma Mia! in Toronto twice in the early 2000s, and I shared Webb’s initial sentiment. Audiences love this show though, that’s for certain. Mamma Mia! is back at Neptune Theatre and plays until August 31st, and many performances are already sold out. When I first saw Mamma Mia! I was three years younger than Sophie is, and now I am closer to Donna’s age, and I think that might be part of why I found it easier to connect with the heart of the show this time, but I think this is also especially the case because the heart of the show at Neptune is played magnificently by Julie Martell.

Mamma Mia! was written by Catherine Johnson, Benny Andersson, and Björn Ulvaeus and features a score filled with ABBA’s biggest hits. The lyrics are slightly tweaked at times to better suit the arc of the story, but mostly it’s Johnson’s book that zigzags around the songs trying to make them all make sense as part of a story about a young girl named Sophie who is searching for her biological father as her wedding approaches. Through reading her mother’s journal from 1979, the year she was conceived, Sophie realizes that there are three men who could potentially be her father, and on a whim she decides to invite all three to her wedding. She keeps this a secret from her mother, who does not like talking to Sophie about this time in her life, and hasn’t even told her closest friends about these three dalliances. When Sam, Bill, and Harry all arrive for Sophie’s wedding Donna is confronted with and forced to reevaluate all the choices she has made, both before Sophie was born, and all the sacrifices she has made as a young mother and entrepreneur. 

There is nothing flippant about this story, and I think watching this show as someone Sophie’s age whose father had chosen to leave before she was born I felt like this experience for Sophie could not possibly be realistically portrayed to the soundtrack of previously-written ABBA songs that have no correlation with the deep feelings of abandonment, inadequacy, and grief that come from this experience. I still feel this way, but I think a lot of this could have been mitigated if Johnson had made it clearer to Sophie (and by proxy the audience) earlier that none of these three men knew Donna had gotten pregnant. Twenty years ago I would have dismissed outright the ability for jukebox musicals to use these songs in a way that either explores the interiority of the characters, or to advance the plot in a way that doesn’t feel contrived, solely because the music wasn’t originally written with these characters or this story in mind. What I found so interesting in watching Mamma Mia! last night with an open mind, was noticing the moments where the music really does work, and works in an interesting way. Sometimes the songs are reveries from within a characters’ mind, which does help to explore their inner world, “Under Attack” is a hilariously unnerving nightmare sequence for Sophie, “Voulez Vous” comes across more like background club music at the taverna, and of course at times Donna and her best friends, formerly the girl group Donna and the Dynamos, are actually performing themselves (although that does beg the question: are they an ABBA cover band? Does ABBA not exist in this universe? Don’t pull this thread too hard). Harry singing “Our Last Summer” with Donna also works beautifully, as Harry is also a singer. At other times the songs do really suit the action; the entire subplot between Tanya and Pepper was clearly created to justify “Does Your Mother Know” and this is pure fun, and, conversely, no better song could be written than “Slipping Through My Fingers” for Donna to sing as she helps Sophie get ready for her wedding. There are moments where the songs feel like square pegs that have been pounded into round holes, absolutely, that’s the nature of the way this show was created, but I think if the creators had been more open to the idea of changing some of the songs more dramatically, slowing the tempo down for example, even more of the songs would be more serviceable to the story, and this revelation surprised me. The music works more often than it doesn’t.

Okay, that’s my honest opinion of Mamma Mia!. What about this production of it? From the very first few scenes it was immediately apparent to me that Jeremy Webb’s production was perfectly cast: not just because of the immense amount of talent permeating off the stage, but mostly because of the easy chemistry that the performers have with one another. I believed that Dominque LeBlanc’s Sophie was Julie Martell’s Donna’s daughter, and that she had grown up with her quite isolated on this Greek island. I believed that LeBlanc’s Sophie’s best friends were Allie and Lisa, played by Ryan MacDougall and Kih Becke. I absolutely believed that Martell’s Donna’s best friends were Tanya and Rosie played by Kirstin Howell and Bridget Bezanson. I believed that LeBlanc’s Sophie and Keenan Smits’ Sky were madly in love with one another. I believed that there was something substantial simmering under the surface between Donna and Brad Hodder’s Sam, and I believed that Kade McCloud’s Pepper really wanted to shoot his shot with Tanya. Especially in a musical where the book and the lyrics are pushing the audiences’ threshold of believability at times, I found it so grounding to have a cast that was so solid and who all brought substance and a sense of backstory to their roles. 

Jeff Schwager plays Bill, the Australian writer who has an immediate rapport with Sophie; you can see the collection of dad jokes downloading into his brain. Schwager is great at capturing Bill’s escalating incredulity and confusion as the action in the show unfolds- always to ridiculous and hilarious effect. Ian Gilmore, conversely, is so damn sweet as Harry, the headbanger turned banker, and the affection between him and Martell is very cute. Rosie is Donna’s low maintenance best friend (in stark contrast to Tanya), so Bridget Bezanson doesn’t get her show stopping moment until the end, but hold onto your hats. Of all the roles I’ve seen Kirstin Howell play, Tanya is my favourite (so far). She is absolutely perfect. Tanya is wealthy, sex-positive, but also reserved to a fault, and Howell knows exactly how to hit every single comedic button. Dominque LeBlanc plays Sophie with so much earnest sweetness. I think Sophie is the hardest role to play in this show because there are genuine moments where we see Sophie’s pain. She asks Sky to promise that he will never leave her, which is classic fear of abandonment, and when she yells at her mother, blaming her for essentially making them a single parent household, we see that not having had a father figure, of course, has profoundly shaped who she is and what her dreams are for the future. But the musical doesn’t stay in either of these places for very long for her before we are thrown into much, much lighter fare. LeBlanc has to oscillate between the depth and levity very quickly and in a way that doesn’t undermine who Sophie is- and she masters this with grace. She also has an incredible singing voice. 

The music, ABBA’s greatest hits, is for many audience members this show’s entire raison d’être, and the reason why this show is so massively popular with audiences. In this respect both the cast and the band, led by Musical Director Avery-Jean Brennan, are doing absolute justice to ABBA. The songs are joyful and catchy, and they do distract you from the moments where they aren’t quite the best fit thematically, because the harmonies are excellent, and the vocal prowess from the actors is enjoyable, and the music makes you want to bop in your seat and just have a fun evening. Stephane Gaudet’s choreography adds youthful, energetic exuberance to the already frenetic music, and really roots us all in a sultry beachy island vibe. As previously mentioned, Gaudet also excels at creating unique moments where the songs become more surrealist and we feel like we are seeing visions inside the characters’ minds, which are vivid and evocative. 

Geoffrey Dinwiddie’s set works well in tandem with Neptune’s very small stage to make this show, which is often done on a massive scale, feel extremely intimate, which I think also helps the audience feel more of the depth of the characters’ emotions because we can see everyone’s more subtle facial expressions. Since Sophie notes in the show that she was conceived in 1979 the show is set in 2000. Kate Mitchell’s costumes bring out some of what is most memorable and hilarious about the 1970s, while keeping the younger cast members in clothes that work both for today and twenty-five years ago without making anything seem extra dated or anachronistic. 

The heart of the show beats in Julie Martell’s performance as Donna. I found it difficult to pry my eyes off her even when she was onstage with a full ensemble of other performers. She has such a beautiful warmth and tenderness both with Sophie and with her friends. She manages to capture Donna’s exhaustion (she is running a taverna on a small remote island essentially by herself) and the practicalities that come with being that self sufficient, but we also see very clearly the fun-loving, if a bit naive, young girl that she once was before Sophie was born. We see how deeply hurt she was by Sam, and how those wounds become fresh when she sees him again after 20 years. I never thought I would say this of anyone in Mamma Mia!, but I saw a glimpse of Martell’s “Rose’s Turn” in her rendition of “The Winner Takes It All.” There was this fierceness of spirit in Donna, who like Rose, is desperately trying to prove to herself that, even in failure, she has what it takes and she can do it by herself. At the same time, Martell has an innate sunshine quality; her smile and her eyes can light up rooms, and, if Neptune Theatre markets this show with #glitterjoy Martell is the physical embodiment of that. 

Like Jeremy, having not seen this show for over twenty years, I had some fairly negative preconceived notions about Mamma Mia!, and I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my quick sojourn to Greece this time. While the show, of course, remains imperfect, there is a lot more depth and heart than I had given it credit for, and I think there’s also an interesting point being touched on about Second Wave Feminism and the ways in which different generations of young girls seek to re-define feminism in their own image, or even how the tenants of feminism can’t just be passed down (unfortunately) as lessons from mother to daughter, to a certain extent, each generation has to work it out, make mistakes, and seek to embrace it (or not) for themselves. 

All this AND ABBA too! If you, like me, were not quite sold or have been burned by this show in the past, if you change your mind, it might be time to take a chance (take a chance chance) on this one.

Mamma Mia! runs until August 31st, 2025 at Neptune Theatre’s Fountain Hall Stage (1593 Argyle Street, Halifax). Performances run Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7:30pm with 2:00pm matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets range in price from $40.00 to $119.00 depending on seating. They are available to buy online here, or by calling the Box Office at 902.429.7070, or visiting in person at 1593 Argyle Street. Tickets are already flying. 

This performance is 2 hours and 30 minutes (including a 20 minutes intermission).
Please note: this show includes moving & flashing lights, theatrical fog, pyrotechnics, and confetti.

There is a Masked Performance July 13th at 2:00pm.

Neptune Theatre is fully accessible for wheelchair users. For more Accessibility Information Click Here.