Mamma Mia! offers Eastbourne "a blissful trip from cold and drizzly England to dazzling sunshine"

Expertly staged, extravagantly dressed, ecstatically delivered. Mamma Mia! arrived at Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre this week, and the Name of the Game is a blissful trip from cold and drizzly England to dazzling sunshine.

In a dark and dangerous world – and theatre is not exempt from the world’s current anguish – a night of Mamma Mia is more than simple escapism. It’s an exuberant declaration that joy is uncrushable, and that love – even in the medium of a corny plot and a string of major-key melodies – still really does conquer all.

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To paraphrase Samuel Johnson: anyone who is tired of Abba is tired of life. Just like those original shining Swedes, blond and buoyant and beautiful, the company faithfully recreates all the great exultant hits, and the memories flood back. The sounds are authentic, the look is great and the experience is utterly immersive.

The evening opens oddly, with nostalgic, disembodied vocals against a huge rippling blue front-cloth. From the deep obscured pit – rather a shame, since it’s always fun to glimpse a breezy Musical Director or a triumphant trombonist – Carlton Edwards directs an accomplished upbeat orchestra, and the charter flight to Greece has landed.

A Congress Theatre rammed to the rafters on Wednesday bounced along with the action, loved every number and every dance routine. The audience will mostly have seen Mamma Mia! previously on stage or screen, although a newcomer might find the story, errm, a wee bit contrived. How to write a show that encompasses an astonishing twenty-two Abba numbers, stringing together their themes and lyrics? Catherine Johnson’s book expertly takes us on a Greek odyssey based on reunions and a mix of happy and awkward memories.

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It's the eve of wedding day for twenty-year-old Sophie – the nymph-like figure of Jena Pandya, with nimble movement and stunning vocals – and she would absolutely love to have her father present to give her away. Ah – but who is Sophie’s dad? Two decades earlier, mum Donna evidently enjoyed a carefree triple fling with three different guys…

Donna, assuredly played by Sara Poyzer, now runs a modest taverna and finds herself in a tumble of emotions when the three roués arrive for the wedding. If you do happen to be new to the narrative, you’ll enjoy the paternity guessing game, teasingly spun by the excellent trio of Richard Standing, Daniel Crowder and Phil Corbett – and this reviewer’s lips are sealed.

Meanwhile Donna’s old girlfriends have also turned up. Nicky Swift’s likeable Rosie is reliving the good times with evident appetite, while Helen Anker’s Tanya credibly brings a veneer of sophistication that cracks after the second glass of ouzo.

A young and vibrant company looks gorgeous, rattles through some cracking dance numbers, delivers all the anthems with exuberance – and can strike a set in about twelve seconds. Not that sets or scene changes are problematic: Greek island life only needs a simple taverna and a terrace in bright sunshine, and this production relies on dazzling players and music rather than dazzling sets.

Supporting parts are actually a bit underwritten: Jasmine Shen and Mariella Mazzilli have enjoyable cameos as Sophie’s young girlfriends. Bridegroom Sky, a very youthful-looking Toby Miles, feels rather a bolt-on while so much of the action revolves around Donna and her dalliances. His mates Eddie (Corey Mitchell) and Pepper (James Willoughby Moore) bring lots of bounce, although Pepper’s improbable sequence, with a Tanya supposedly old enough to be his mum, rates possibly among the more tasteless musical theatre scenes ever written. What happens in Kavos deserves to stay in Kavos…

Never mind. The show as an entity is one huge, indulgent celebration of life, romance, sweetness and sunshine. The audience demographic perfectly mirrors the onstage narrative, with generations of mums and grown-up daughters revelling in the fabulous musical numbers – and enjoying a terrific, thoroughly escapist good time. By the final walk-down, the entire auditorium is on its feet, singing, swaying and living the Abba Dream.

Winner takes it all? This one’s a winner!

Review by Kevin Anderson

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