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Sunday, March 18, 2007

Mamma Mia!

**
Winter Garden



Wish Patrick a happy birthday! Determined to attend a matinee together we scoured the discount ticket sites attempting to find something that we could both count towards our race. He had seen pretty much everything on Broadway so it was a difficult search. That is when, at the last minute, the unthinkable happened: two tickets to Mamma Mia!. It is now official: I am a theater snob. There we sat arms folded scouring at the ten tons of splenda being lobbed into our faces as the Europeans around us squealed with glee. Years ago (like maybe 7th grade), I would have been dancing in the aisles along side them, however, somewhere along the way I became this horrible curmudgeon who prefers depth and relevance. West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden ya know... sigh...

4 comments:

Patrick Lee said...

It was worth it to see your Guinness Book Of Records-worthy dash for the bar at intermission. Good times.

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday to Patrick

Stage & Screen said...

David...my boyfriend Chris and I saw it a few weeks ago...it's my dirty little secret too. But I figure, you can't talk bad about something if you haven't seen it. We bought SRO tickets to it and the plus-sides to seeing the show were:

1. Carolee Carmello (who left three days after we saw it) and
2. Seeing the inside of the Winter Garden Theater.

The snob in me thumbs his nose at this trifle of a show...but it still leaves me wondering: why do so many people see this show? The plot is recycled (Buena Sera Mrs. Campbell AND Carmelina). The ABBA songs *are* catchy, but they don't advance the plot or even have anything to do with what actually should be happening on stage. And the characters are so one-dimensional, we never see much of Sophie's friends after the prologue...except when they dance half-naked. Also, take a look at the INSANE number of original cast members STILL in the show after five years.

Also...if you stand in the back...you're just *that* much closer to the bar at intermish.

Best,

Paul

David Bell said...

I assume that the inoffensive, generic, gap-commercialesqe sensibility and promise of happy music that everyone already knows the lyrics to makes it a prime target for the tourists who just aren't emotionally equipped to deal with Dying City