Juliette M. Ojeda (center) and Cast Photo by Joan Marcus

Well, "farewell tours" come and go, and the proof is that Mamma Mia! is back and as giddy a happiness machine as ever. This new North American tour was launched in 2023, billed as the 25th Anniversary Tour. The tour spent six months last season at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, playing to full houses. Prior to its Broadway stay, the tour visited Minneapolis, but I missed my chance to see it then. Well, good news–it's back! Again! Only for a week this time, which seems a shame. I doubt the throngs of Mamma Mia! lovers still out there can all fit into eight performances, even in the capacious Orpheum Theatre.

For any of you who have gotten this far and are wondering, "just what is Mamma Mia!?" I'll explain. Back in 1983, producer Judy Craymer met Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, the composing duo who are half of the Swedish pop supergroup ABBA and were working on their musical Chess at the time. Craymer believed that ABBA's songs had a theatricality that could be assembled into a book musical. The idea percolated until 1997 when Craymer hired Catherine Johnson to write a book for that show, giving birth to Mamma Mia!.

Johnson's book succeeded in finding narrative placements for such ABBA hits as "S.O.S.," "Money, Money, Money," "Knowing Me, Knowing You," "The Winner Takes It All," "Dancing Queen," "Take a Chance on Me," and the show's bouncy title song, along with fifteen others. Sure, about half of those are somewhat shoe-horned, or seem like odd choices. Would a middle-aged man, meeting, for the first time, a twenty-year-old girl who may or may not be his daughter offer her advice on the eve of her wedding, "advice" that turns out to be a song about his divorce from the woman he married after his relationship with her mother ended? Still, it is impressive how many of the songs do fit handily into Johnson's story, and even do the work of a musical theatre songéthat is, to advance the plot and/or illuminate a character.

Johnson spun a tale about twenty-year-old Sophie, raised by her single mother, Donna Sheridan, on a sunny Greek island. Donna, through hard work and pluck, has become owner of an inn and taverna. Sophie is engaged and wants her father to walk her down the aisle, but she doesn't know who her dad is. By stealing her mom's diary, she narrows down the possibilities to the three men whom Donna had liaisons with at the time in question. Without telling her mother, Sophie invites all three to her wedding, certain that she'll know at a glance which of them is her father. Donna has not seen any of those gents since their twenty-year old flings, and none of them suspect that they had fathered her child, so when the three men–Harry, Bill, and Sam–arrive on the day before the wedding, Donna is thrown into a panic.

I could assemble a list of all the holes in this plot, but why bother? The book is funny, and even sentimental. Besides, it is forever–and happily–interrupted by all the high-spirited song and dance. Part of Johnson's genius was to set the show on a Greek island, a vacation spot dedicated to pleasure, where people have time to sit around the taverna over drinks or go snorkeling in the aquamarine sea, with the added bonus of an excuse for well-chiseled guys going shirtless. Also, no one on the island appears to be Greek, other than the priest called in to officiate the wedding. Everyone is out of their reality zone–perfect for a musical that plays loose with reality. No one on that island is looking for serious dramaturgy, and neither should we.

The current cast is fully up to snuff, both in the lead and supporting roles, with strong vocals and acting chops, especially Jessica Crouch playing Donna Sheridan with the authority of a superstar. She is a gem throughout, but her 24-karat moment is delivering "The Winner Takes It All," a bona fide showstopper. Juliette M. Ojeda is darling as Sophie, a winning blend of naivete and emerging womanhood. Crouch and Ojeda transmit the strength of a mother-daughter bond between them, replete with both love and aggravation–but mostly love.

I was surprised to learn the morning after seeing the show that the actors playing Donna's two old friends and former band members (back in the disco days they had a group called Donna and the Dynamos) were both understudies. Kristina Walz took the role of the three-time divorcee, Tanya, and Alex Lanning covered the role of Rosie, the marriage-spurning publisher of a feminist magazine. Both actors captured their character's persona to a T and were perfect in their respective featured numbers, "Does Your Mother Know?" and "Take a Chance on Me," the latter a comic pairing between Rosie and Bill (played by Leland Burnett), the candidate dad who has been commitment-avoidant all these years.

Burnett, along with Rob Hancock (as Harry) and Victor Wallace (Sam), the three contenders, all do fine work. Wallace, as Sam, is given the most emotional lifting of the three–actually, of anyone in the entire play. His delivery of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" highlights his talent as a vocalist, even though the song is one of the more peculiar song placements Johnson made. Grant Reynolds is appealing as Sophie's fiancé, Sky, and the two vocalize beautifully together. Steven Gagliano has some spectacular dance moves as Eddie, one of Sky's buddies, who makes a play for the out-of-his-league, twenty-year older Tanya.

Anthony Van Laast's choreography holds up well over these years and is wondrously brought to life by a sleek and energetic ensemble. Phyllida Lloyd directed the very first London production in 1999, along with the North American premiere in Toronto, the original Broadway run, the 2008 hit movie version, and its 2018 movie sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Lloyd once again directs this most recent tour, with Martha Banta credited as its associate director, so the comfortable pacing and smooth transitions remain intact.

The physical production makes one feel like you just stepped off a plane and into a sun-bleached paradise. Credits for production design (Mark Thompson), lighting (Howard Harrison), and sound design (Andrew Bruce and Bobby Aitken) are the same as the original Broadway production and the previous national tours, with new associate design directors added to the roster to keep things fresh–which they absolutely are. So, what you will get is the same Mamma Mia! you have always gotten, with nary a wrinkle that might suggest that after 25 years–and counting–the show is getting tired.

Having just commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, I remembered that, still staggered by the shock, the theatre community went back to work in New York and around the nation, using arts and entertainment to unify, enlighten, and heal. Mamma Mia! was one of the first new Broadway shows to arrive after that catastrophe, opening on October 18. How would it be seen? Was it too lightweight, too oblivious in the face of the darkness, opening just four miles from the devastation of the fallen towers? It turned out that audiences welcomed the light heart, the cheer, the high energy, and happy ending that Mamma Mia! gave them. It was a welcome antidote to the fear and grief that floated throughout New York like a low-lying fog.

Thankfully, nothing on the scale of September 11 has visited our shores since then, but there are still reasons for people to be burdened by fear and grief, along with anger, confusion, and other unwelcome feelings. As long as malaise is in the air, a refill prescription of Mamma Mia! can be counted on to provide glorious relief.

Mamma Mia! runs through September 20, 2026, at the Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please call 612-339-7007 or visit hennepinarts.org. For information on the tour, visit www.mammamiathetour.com.

Book: Catherine Johnson; Music and Lyrics: Benny Andersson and Bj?rn Ulvaeus (some songs by Stig Anderson); Direction: Phyllida Lloyd; Choreography: Anthony Van Laast; Music Supervisor, Additional Material, and Arrangements: Martin Koch; Production Design: Mark Thompson; Lighting Design: Howard Harrison: Sound Design: Andrew Bruce & Bobby Aitken; Music Director: Sarah Pool Wilhelm; Music Coordinator: Michael Aarons; Casting: The TRC Company—Kevin Metzger-Timson, CSA and Spencer Gualdoni, CSA; Associate Director: Martha Banta; Associate Choreographer: Janet Rothermel; Production Stage Manager: RL Campbell.

Cast: Sarah Agrusa (swing), Alessandra Antonelli (ensemble), Leland Burnett (Bill Austin), Julia Charkales (swing), Tony Clements (ensemble), Jessica Crouch (Donna Sheridan), Kate Cummings (ensemble), Jordan De Leon (ensemble), Nico DiPrimio (swing), Steven Gagliano (Eddie/ensemble), Maddie Garbaty (Ali/ensemble), Andy Garcia (swing), Rob Hancock (Harry Bright), Sam Harvey (ensemble), David Holbert (ensemble), Alex Lanning (ensemble), Makoa (ensemble), Erica Mansfield (Tanya), Jason Mulay (ensemble), Faith Northcutt (swing), Juliette M. Ojeda (Sophie Sheridan), Emma X. O'Loughlin (ensemble), Jasmine Overbaugh (offstage Tanya cover), Lena Owens (Lisa/ensemble), Blake Price (Father Alexandrios/ensemble), Grant Reynolds (Sky), Ryan Sander (swing), Sarah Santos (ensemble), Lauren Soto (swing), George Vickers V (swing), Victor Wallace (Sam Carmichael), Kayla Ryan Walsh (Rosie), Kristina Walz (ensemble), Dominic Young (Pepper/ensemble).