‘Mamma Mia!’ review: Back on Broadway, a much-needed summer splash of ABBA

The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself! 

It’s summer again at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, where that dreamy discothèque “Mamma Mia!” reopened Thursday night after 10 years away from Broadway.

The wonderful, escapist musical, which pairs a romantic farce on a Greek island with the seventies ear-worms of ABBA, always hits cranky critics a lot like the lyrics the song “Under Attack” describe.

About to crack, defenses breakin’!

We’re not supposed to approve of jukebox shows. We’re not supposed to rubber-stamp sit-com silliness. We are supposed to roll our eyes at platform shoes and blindingly colorful bellbottoms.  

Well, I say, “thank you for the musical.” “Mamma Mia!” is a much-needed vacation from all the seriousness and drear. And its foundations could withstand a nuclear blast. The foremother of the old-pop-songs-in-a-new-story genre is still the very best in the game.

I first saw the show more than 20 years ago, and continue to marvel at its tautness and wit.

For those of us who have visited the fictional isle of Kalokairi and ex-pat Donna’s taverna an, er, redacted number of times, there’s been some noticeable pruning at the Winter Garden. 

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What’s onstage is the national tour — not a custom-built production for Broadway. So it’s smaller and cheaper. The stone floor doesn’t light up during “Voulez-Vous”; the cute ensemble never peeks their heads over the walls when they sing the title tune.

That drachma-pinching irked me at first, but I was quickly won over by “I work all night, I work all day” Donna and her Dynamos and young bride-to-be Sophie and her three possible dads.

How can I resist ya?

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Audiences certainly won’t be able to resist Christine Sherrill, the fabulous actress playing Donna. She’s among the most memorable to take on the part.

As the overalls-clad “Money Money Money!” business owner, whose three former flames from the 1970s all arrive at her hotel on the same day two decades later, Sherrill has the flighty fun and smile of Goldie Hawn in “Overboard.” So, her pathos sneaks up on us quite powerfully during “Slipping Through My Fingers” and the 11 O’clock “Winner Takes It All.” 

Sherrill bats the ballad right outta the park.

As her “Super Trooper” pals Rosie and Tanya, Carly Sakolove and Jalynn Steele breathe new life into well-worn gags. The laughs flow like ouzo when they sing “Take a Chance on Me” and “Does Your Mother Know?”.

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While always a great showcase of male abs, “Mamma Mia” has never been about male talent. It’s not called “Dadda Mia!,” after all. The gents all do their fatherly duties adequately. Victor Wallace playing hunky Sam, Jim Newman as rugged Bill and Rob Marnell as fidgety Brit Harry check the boxes.

And that’s par for the course. Fans of the 2008 Meryl Streep movie tend to say “no comment” on the topic of Pierce Brosnan.

And the young lovers Sophie and Sky, played by Amy Weaver and Grant Reynolds, are sweet as ever.

So is the show, even if it’s frayed a bit around the edges.

“Mamma Mia!” is only back on Broadway for six months. But I see no reason they should throw in the towel so quickly.

To quote a much, much newer song by ABBA: “Don’t shut me down!”