It was back in January 1997 that the initial idea of basing a musical on and around some of the many numbers from the extensive ABBA songbook was muted and from that initial ideal some two years later that the show we now know as Mamma Mia! was finally unleashed to the unsuspecting world.

It was an instant success with the show booking solid for months in advance as it was evident that the ABBA phenomenon was still alive and well and that the creative team had got things right in their production.

We were able to get tickets for this institution in the early weeks of its run only through contacts in the cast, and I have to say that I was more than wary of going. I am very much a fan of the original ABBA music and wondered how I would take to their adaptation to fit the necessary story line of the musical. I did enjoy the show, but not unreservedly. I still had my opinions as to how the music was performed, and though a thoroughly professional production had been witnessed had serious question marks as to the book.

I obviously was in a small minority though as the show has never done anything else than fantastic business wherever it has played, and there is an unprecedented eleven different productions currently running worldwide.   

I suppose it was about four years after the first time I saw the show that it came on tour to Edinburgh, and we decided to give it another go. This time I knew what to expect, and I must say I did enjoy it a whole lot more. Whatever else one may levy at the show, the enjoyment and party atmosphere that is generated cannot be questioned. It is virtually impossible to leave the theatre without a smile on one’s face and that can only be a good thing.

Anyway the International Touring version once more came to a halt in the Edinburgh Playhouse this spring and so we ventured there again to see the current production.  

I don’t suppose that there are many people who don’t know the story line but basically, Sophie lives with her mother Donna on a Greek island. Sophie is getting married to Sky and wants her father to be there. Only problem being she has no idea who is her father, and research in her mother’s diaries of the time indicate that there are three possibilities. Ever resourceful she decides to invite all three and see what happens, as she is sure she’ll recognise daddy once she meets him.