A Trip Down Broadway, New York – Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! The Musical…. what can I say, It. Was. Amazing!!!!

From the beginning of the show, you are propelled into a world of comedy and romance. I won’t go into the details on what happened in the play, cuz I think the movie and play speak for itself already, and there are summaries and reviews floating around the net.  Also I wont compare the movie and the play since both are different in ways. What I will write here is from the perspective of an artist. I am writing this experience as a way of  specially thanking Ms. Daisy Ba-ad and Ms. Michelle Simtoco for introducing me to the world of theatrical arts and musicals, to which I now enjoy very much from the very bottom of my heart. Also, I’m dedicating this to the Siddhartha cast family also, since they can’t be here to watch it with me 😉

Where to start, there’s so much to say about the musical. It’s everything an artist could hope or wish for, and to top it off, IT’S IN BROADWAY! I was already propelled out of my seat and into another place. I have forgotten that I was in a theatre was now in Greece!

Lets start with the location. The theatre was completely full, and this has been running more than 10 years and still draws a sold out crowd. The theatre was amazing, from the orchestra seats to the box seating on the side wall and balcony seating on the 2nd floor, everything was high-top class. If you saw from those movies where inside the theatre it’s like a classical/contemporary setup, it’s really true to the every aspect from where I went. I was seated real close to the stage, 4th from the from the front seat and center seat from both sides, so I had one of the best view/seat in the house, right at the center =D

The music…well it was live band! No kidding! There was even a conductor and SHE was leading the orchestra/band while they play the music/songs. The band was under the stage but can be seen from the outside. What we did in Cebu was pre-record the numbers for the production, but here, it was live. I was so impressed. Next the lapels, I COULDN’T FIND IT!! lol I tried to look for the mics but it was really hidden from sight, I did notice something in there left or right ear that was skin colored, hmm.. maybe that was it =p

Now their voices, I LOVE their voices! So intense, so crystal clear and beautiful!! You can really feel them what their singing about, from joy and happiness to anger, to sadness and distraught. I cried on one of those sad acts, I think it was “Knowing Me, Knowing You” act. As what Ms. Daisy said, project your voice and always show the truth. Oh, Peirce Brosnan has nothing on this show, the guy playing Sam Carmichael in the play was better than Pierce in the movie XD

The props… what else can I expect from Broadway. Top notch props! It was simple and minimal, just like from Siddhartha production. Sometimes there was just a bed on the stage and some table, others there was a wall as the house and some tables for the restaurant. Nothing too fancy but it does the job. Oh, there were also some nice props, e.a. elevating platform, two rotating walls that automatically re-arranges themselves to form the outside of the house, Sophie’s room, inside of a bar, etc. , which I really liked by-the-way 🙂 All the props were constantly reused, so don’t expect that just because its Broadway they don’t reuse and recycle props 😉 Also, as far as I can remember, there was only ONE black-out, and that was during the intermission, I was so impressed. The location change and props were done in front of the audience, not as obvious but they did it as part of the play. When a main cast or supporting cast comes in, they are already bringing the props they or the whole group would need, from simple tables and chairs to liquor trolley. When transitioning from one scene to the other, one side of the stage the main cast is acting, the other side of the stage the supporting cast were already starting to change the props as they come in in-character.

Dance numbers were very well choreographed, I wouldn’t say everyone were in sync since its a musical and that’s not the point. The use of angles also, I was able to spot it right away hehe, may it be with the body and/or props used to point to the person or location that we were supposed to focus our attention to. Maybe to a normal viewer they wouldn’t notice this at all but after going through Ms. Daisy, I was able to spot some of these right away, I wouldn’t say all 🙂

Spacing was really well thought out, there were no empty spaces in the stage in large groups! If there is space in one spot that’s unoccupied, at least one or two is standing there to keep it occupied, or there are some props standing there in its place… may it be a bed, tables and chairs. I could still remember Ms. Daisy shouting to use all the spaces on the stage haha 🙂

Professionalism between the cast is really there, may it be dancing, kissing, body language  etc… _strictly_professional_. And one thing, when they go all the way, _they_go_all_they_way_ with there acting, from dancing to touching each other… and with no malice intended, when a scene requires them to touch “some” body parts, they do it, I’ll leave it to you to understand what I meant 😉

Last but not the least, everyone enjoyed the show!!… not just the audience but also the casts. So its very true… from the simplest of productions to the most grandest of production in Broadway and to Paris… ENJOY.

Too bad I couldn’t meet the cast after, they didn’t come out but I was very happy that night. This was a night I will never forget for the rest of my life =)