MAMMA MIA! – REVIEW OF 2026 PRODUCTION AT THE PRINCESS OF WALES THEATRE

Reviewed by James Karas

Have you seen Mamma Mia!? Have you heard of it?

Well, it’s a musical that has been around since 1999 B.C. and has been seen by 9.2 billion people in 2000 countries around our galaxy. Now bow your head in shame and find out where the Princess of Wales Theatre is located in Toronto. 

Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus are credited for the music and lyrics and Stig Anderson is credited for some songs (in smaller fonts). Catherine Johnson is credited for the book in decent size fonts, all in the Princess of Wales Theatre program. The program lists 22 songs all by ABBA.

The musical has a bloody good story. It takes place on a Greek island where reality is optional. There are no Greeks on this island but there are a lot of long-term visitors. Take Donna Sheridan (Jesica Crouch) who owns a taverna and has been there for a long time. The central plot line is the wedding of Donna’s daughter Sophie (Juliette M. Ojeda) and Sky (Grant Reynolds).

Sophie wants her father to walk her down the aisle. Complications, please. Sophie does not know who her father is but she finds her mother’s diary of twenty years ago and some crucial information. Her mother had very eclectic taste in men and had intimate relations with three of them and any one of them qualifies to be Sophie’s father.  

Donna shagged Sam (Victor Wallace), an American architect, Bill (Leland Burnett), an Australian writer and Harry (Rob Marnell), a British banker. We are talking class. She does not know whose sperm fertilized Sophie and has taken the island’s Fifth Commandment: silence. Sophie invites the three men to her wedding without telling her mother.

The Company of MAMMA MIA! 25th Anniversary Tour Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

Donna has some colourful and funny friends like the rich and divorce-prone Tanya (Jalynn Steele) and the single Rosie (Carly Sakolove) who formed Donna and the Dynamos in the days of yore. And Pepper (Dominic Young), a taverna worker who makes a pass at Tanya. Good luck, buddy. Rosie is interested in Bill and he becomes interested in her and their thermometers hit “hot”. Sam goes one better with Donna. “I do, I do.

One can easily imagine the conflicts, the humour, the drama that arise with presence of the three men. Who will walk her down the aisle? Sky is angry because Sophie did not tell him what she did. Are the men still in love with Donna and how will everything work out. I will not disclose the whole plot but reassure you that everything will work out splendidly with or without any Greeks on the island. Wait a minute. What is Father Alexandrios doing on the island? That is not even a Greek name.

The musical uses some twenty Abba songs that embrace the fast-paced plot or is it the other way around. Familiarity with and love of the songs breeds appreciation and excitement. The audience embraced the songs, the plot and the atmosphere of a great live performance that gained a great deal by being so familiar to so many.

The set by Mark Thompson consists of a couple of white-washed structures that are easily revolved. It is an indication of a Greek island with the blue sky in the background. Howard Harrison designed the lighting and Andrew Bruce and Bobby Aitken are the all-important sound designers. Anthony Van Laast is the excellent choreographer and Martin Koch the crucial musical supervisor.

Phyllida Lloyd directed the original production in London and no one has questioned its excellence. It was her production that launched Mamma Mia’s North American fortunes at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. Let them eat their hearts out.

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Mamma Mia! by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (music and lyrics), and Catherine Johnson (book)  continues until August 30, 2026,  at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. West, Toronto, Ontario. www.mirvish.com

James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto