We’ve got three dads, we’ve got strong female friendships and we’ve got the unbreakable — yet forever complicated — mother-daughter relationship. Oh yeah, we’ve also got ABBA, the only band to show us that disco might not be all that dead, because the music of this glam ‘70s band never gets old. The national Broadway tour of Mamma Mia! has taken residency at the Hult Center, and will be showing through Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10.
With its exploration of strong female relationships through the lens of some of the biggest and best bops of all time, this touring show makes for a gratifying mother-daughter date this weekend — with stand-out performances from the mother daughter-duo in question: Broadway’s Jessica Crouch as Donna and The Voice season 24’s Juliette M. Ojeda as Sophie.
“We all PMS, we all go through it,” Ojeda says, referring to the experience of girlhood. “I think this show highlights how we’ll never leave each other alone, ever.”
The most emotional moment in any version of Mamma Mia! is famously the Sophie and Donna duet of “Slippin’ through my Fingers,” a tearjerking song about the wonderful tragedy of watching a baby girl grow up into a strong young woman before you can even blink.
“I’ve done the show so many times and during this scene I’m supposed to have my single tear,” Ojeda says. But the 23-year-old recounts a moment in this tour (which she joined in February), where, during a performance of the song, she peered into the audience and “I saw this woman hug her daughter, just give her the biggest hug. I was sobbing.” During the duet, Crouch as Donna sang to her and watched her cry for real. “My god, I miss my mom,” Ojeda tells Eugene Weekly, tearing up once again.
“It’s a man’s world,” she continues. “This show reminds us that no matter how much is taken away from us, no matter the circumstances we’re in, we have each other. Because no one else is going to be there for us the way we can be there for each other.”
To balance out the emotional girl power tearjerker moments, the show does not scare away from schmaltz or incredibly over-the-top corny moments and occasional over-acting, but with a show that’s not remotely afraid of showing all of the emotions, it’s expected and welcomed. For instance, Jalynn Steele’s Tanya (Donna’s rich and perpetually divorced best friend) takes up the whole stage whenever she’s on it, but she ends up stealing the show as a result.
Other highlights include a surprising sneaker hit of an all-male ensemble singing “Lay all your Love on Me” in full scuba gear and escalating action, the bachelorette party scene that is simply just for the girls and a musical dream sequence with a twist.
There’s a lot more singing and a lot less plot in this version of the show than other renditions, with some scenes where three or four ABBA songs all get knocked out in a row. This means that the theatrical scale of some (but not all) of the songs are scaled down for production purposes as opposed to the mountainous Broadway levels that are expected. For the most part, this change is okay, as it means we get more ABBA — and if you’re seeing Mamma Mia! that is what you’re looking for.
Most of the time, this decreased scale means getting a break from the overacting, and we get needed one-on-one moments between essential characters (look out for a sexy and hilarious rendition of “Take a Chance on Me” or an intimate “Winner Takes it All”). But other times, it ends up giving us less than what we deserve — let this serve as your warning that “Dancing Queen” is only the three main girls anti-climactically dancing together in Donna’s bedroom.
Even still, this rendition of Mamma Mia! doesn’t cease to give you exactly what you need and still keeps it fresh: performances by girls who love and understand girlhood, paternal chaos, lots of awesome ’70s costuming and tons of ABBA — all on mother’s day weekend.
Mamma Mia! is 7:30 pm Thursday, May 7, 8 pm Friday, May 8, 2 pm and 8 pm Saturday, May 9 and 1 pm Sunday, May 10. Tickets start at $44 and are available at HultCenter.org.