August 18, 2012

Mamma Mia! - Quite the Experience



Around Mother's Day (the second Sunday in May in this country) I found a full page ad in the one of the Chilliwack papers: 'Mamma Mia! Prospera Centre, One Night Only, August 17'. A big show like that rarely comes east of Vancouver, so I got a little excited. My friend Diane asked me if I would like to go with her. I said yes, enthusiastically, without even considering the ticket price. When I told my family about the opportunity, they offered to pitch in for the ticket for my Mother's Day present. Diane offered to obtain the tickets online, and then all that was required was to wait with great anticipation for the big day.

For those out there who don't know - and there will be very few of you - Mamma Mia! began on the London Stage and soon became a massive hit all around the world. It is the story of a twenty year old girl and her single mother who runs a taverna on a small Greek island. The girl, Sophia, is uncertain of who her father is, and when she reads of three possiblilities in her mother's diary, she invites all three of them to her upcoming wedding in an attempt to find out which of the three men is her real father. Two of Sophia's mother's friends come to the island as well, and the antics which ensue are highly entertaining and stitched together throughout with songs from the Swedish supergroup, ABBA. The production is fantastically fun and high energy, and of course, sentimental for those who grew up fans of ABBA. The musical was made into a film in 2008, starring Meryl Streep and a host of other fantastic actors, which was also a huge hit worldwide.

I was not a fan of ABBA growing up, but my sisters were, as well as a couple of friends, so I knew the music; besides, once I hear a song I rarely forget it and ABBA songs are nothing if not catchy. I saw the film version a few years ago and really enjoyed it. It was just such good fun, although I once heard myself calling the storyline "every menopausal woman's fantasy." Anyway, when the opportunity came to go and see the travelling production I jumped at the chance. I've always wanted to see something like that and just never have, although I've seen a few big rock concerts and plenty of good quality smaller scale productions in good theaters.

After spending much of a hot and sunny Friday up at a local lake swimming and enjoying the natural beauty of the setting with our families, my friend Diane and I agreed to leave for the show at 7 pm that evening. The show would start at 8 pm, but we wanted to get there early enough to find a good parking spot and perhaps buy a drink or something beforehand. We found a good spot for the car in the Cultural Center parking lot next door to Prospera Centre, which is a hockey rink, mainly, but also used for larger events and holds about 5,000 people depending on the event. The only times I had been in the building were for public ice skating, and after the heat wave we've been having, I was looking forward to spending the evening in an air conditioned building watching the show.

We walked into the building and presented our tickets to the friendly ticket-taker. The air in the entrance way did not seem to be cool at all, and we walked a few more metres to the programme seller, thinking the cool wall of A/C would hit us any moment. "So, is Meryl Streep in the show?" asked Diane, very tongue in cheek. "Oh no" the woman replied, most likely thinking these women were true hicks from Hicksville, "this show has all different actors. You can see them all in this programme" (which was in colour and $20). Diane, who'd seen Les Miserables on the London stage a couple of times, walked on with me, shaking her head. The wall of cool air never arrived. We were given the free black and white version of the programme by the usher who lead us to our seats, and we resigned ourselves to spending the evening fanning ourselves with it. Fortunately, I had smuggled in a bottle of iced water, because the line-up for the drinks was pretty long, understandably. The air conditioning either did not exist - perhaps the ice which was there throughout much of the year was kept cold from beneath, or it was broken. I never really found out the truth.

Before long, music indicated to the crowd that the show was about to begin. The lights were lowered and the  first scene commenced. We were sitting in section H, row 9, which meant we had to turn to the left to look at the stage, but our view was quite good and we were about half way up the risers. The seats were not very comfortable, just plastic fold-down things, and Diane regretted forgetting the cushion she had intended to bring; she'd sat through hockey games in the centre before. The first half was great. I was intrigued thinking about the whole stage management/production side of things, because the show was highly choreographed, including the set changes. I knew the film, of course, and also enjoyed the little differences in the stage version. The actors were very good, especially the young woman who played Sophia, but of course Meryl Streep was the best 'Donna' I had seen, and comparisons would have been unfair. The first half ended with the song 'Voulez Vous' and a rousing dance number with the entire cast, and then we were able to stand up and stretch our legs during the intermission. Diane also discovered an ice cream vendor and we had something cool to eat. We also went to the Ladies room and splashed cool-ish water on our faces and arms, and even our legs. Diane asked me at one point, "How hot do you think it is in here?" It was probably about 30 degrees, judging by the perspiration running down my back.

The second half was equally entertaining, but every once in a while I would look out over the audience to see a sea of programme fans waving to the beat of the music. The audience seemed to be lagging a bit. A few had even left after the first half, the older gentleman beside me included - I had noticed he did not appear to be feeling well. About twenty minutes from the end of the show, some kind of alarm went off in the back of the building. It sounded like a car alarm, but it was most definitely inside the building. The actors kept right on with the show, being pros, and the alarm kept on, too, 'Wooee, wooee, wooee, wooee," on and on for about five full minutes. Finally, someone managed to turn it off and the audience cheered, albeit tiredly. The final numbers in the show are meant to bring everyone to their feet, and soon everyone was up, clapping and singing along, some even managing to wave their arms back and forth. How the actors endured three hours of that heat, in costumes, under the lights, I'll never know. They deserved a standing ovation just for that.

A fairly subdued crowd filed out of the building, smiling wearily, with thoughts of a rinse-off when they got home, I'm sure. Diane and I chatted during the drive home. We had read in the programme that the Mamma Mia! crew were off to Penticton in south central British Columbia the next day, having presented the show one night each in Lethbridge in southern Alberta, Dawson Creek, Prince George, and Chilliwack, all in BC. as part of their tour. All of these cities are mid-sized with populations of under 100,000. I was quite sure that each of the centres in which they played were hockey rinks. We wondered if any of them had air conditioning.

Mind you, in retrospect, perhaps the heat in the building added to the overall effect of the setting. A Greek Island can be awfully hot, but we could have done with a bit of a cool breeze off the Mediterranean. Yes, 'somewhere in the crowd' there was us, and we, along with the cast, musicians, and crew were certainly 'Super Troupers' for making it through that night!

Here's Meryl, Christine and Julie performing Super Trouper for the film version of Mamma Mia!. Enjoy! (I did)





15 comments:

  1. First world problems eh ?.
    Hmm, Abba is the section ahead of me or maybe even two. I think you'd have needed to be in your late teens about '75 to be fully in that groove. I had always took them a bit gay in the old meaning of that term. But then Adam and the Ants and most of the early '80 were in the new meaning of the term and I only took them to be theatrically dressed. Talk about a swing and a miss there.

    Are the ice rinks the biggest hall you've got. The equivalent for basketball in say Kansas.

    Glad you had a good time. Wouldn't be my cuppa all the same.

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    1. Haha, 1st world problems indeed. I was thinking that as I wrote, which is why I made sure to say that I still enjoyed and appreciated the experience despite the discomfort.
      Yes, I would say the biggest arenas in mid sized cities in Canada are usually hockey rinks unless they are outdoors, which would generally mean football or baseball fields surrounded by risers for seats.

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  2. Despite everything it was a great night for your first big production Rebecca which is fantastic. I love anything live but gave the stage production of this a miss when it came to Edinburgh a while back. I've seen a few of the big London shows, either in London or when out on tour, and Les Miserables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Miss Saigon are top of the pile in my opinion. Like you I saw the film version, even if I had to be dragged to it reluctantly by The Lovely G, and found it mostly enjoyable but definitely aimed at the audience you described so well above. I had to go to the loo to avoid most of Pierce Brosnan's excruciating singing!

    I've been to several shows where the temperature is similar to your experience-never a good thing - and many where my knees are pinned by the seat in front so am unable to move even an inch for the duration od the show which is terrible.

    Despite your physical experience feels like you loved it and I hope you get the chance to see more sometime.

    By the way, although I've not commented on Stella's Cafe I'm very much enjoying it.

    Have a good weekend.

    Al.

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    1. Les Mis sounds like one to see if I possibly can, from all accounts. Poor Pierce Brosnan -he was dragged kicking and screaming to the microphone for those takes, I hear. I actually didn't think he was so very bad. I've heard worse! But then, not necessarily in a musical :)

      Emma and I are very glad to hear you are enjoying Stella's Virtual Cafe!

      Thanks for your comments. My sister Clare said to me, 'I like the comments that Alistair leaves. He says such good things - seems so nice.'

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    2. Clare is obviously a lady with exceedingly good taste - as I would expect given her pedigree....

      {blush}

      Thanks.

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    3. - blushes all round...and Clare reads for a living. She's a library technician.

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    4. Then Clare - Get yourself over to my blog!

      lol.

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  3. Rebecca, thought briefly about going to see Mama Mia but like you, am not a HUGE fan of ABBA and didn't think anyone could compare to Meryl Streep. The heat was just an extra disincentive:) I have seen Les Mis three times now and LOVED it every single time - a new movie version should be released in the fall. I love live theatre, musicals in particular but do enjoy the much smaller venues in Vancouver, especially the Stanley on Granville or the Waterfront on Granville Island. Bob and I just enjoyed a lovely version of The Merry Wives of Winsor at Bard on the Beach. I am also thoroughly enjoying Stella's Virtual Cafe!

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    1. I will watch for the movie version of Les Mis, for sure! I was thinking during the show how wonderful it would have been to see it in the Cultural Centre, but of course they need to sell a lot more tickets than that to bring a show like that here (or charge $1000 a ticket!). The acoustics in the CCC are absolutely perfect. I do wish to get to The Bard sometime!

      I will have a new Stella post up soon. Thanks :)

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  4. ugh...it sounds like circumstances conspired to ruin any good thing you could have gotten between the heat and the alarm...while i love watching productions i think i might skip this one if i get the chance based on your experience...smiles....

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    1. The production was great - the setting, not so much. I do believe after this that theatre is meant to be seen in a theater.

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  5. I too grew up with Abba Rebecca and, I'm not ashamed to say, actually quite liked their catchy songs! I, all too soon, grew up and became a fan of more 'intellectual' (or so I thought) music!
    I thoroughly enjoyed both the movie and the stage production of Mamma Mia. I'm sorry your experience was somewhat spoiled by the heat. I was hot during the live show too, but that was mainly from dancing around like a loon with my girl friends! I'm also a big fan of Les Miserables, Phantom, Evita, Blood Brothers etc etc and have seen most of them either in the West End of London or in Edinburgh. You'll have gathered that I'm definetely not particular when it comes to music and theatre - if it makes me laugh, touches me in some way, leaves me in awe, makes me dance, makes me want to sing along, makes me think, makes me cry etc etc then I've enjoyed the experience!

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    1. I really wish the heat came from being up and dancing - the audience was pretty darn subdued that night, I thought, for such an energetic production. And I enjoy theatre for much the same reasons as you!

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  6. Well, you were a trooper! Heat makes people grumpy!

    Ummm, and I DO love ABBA!

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    1. Well, despite everything I still managed to have a good time. Yes, I think I like ABBA now, too, at least in the context of this fun production :)

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