Kalòs ìrthate! (“Welcome!” in Greek) The musical, Mamma Mia!, has been an international sensation since first premiering in the West End of London in 1999. Since then, numerous productions have been staged, from Broadway and touring companies, to repertory and community theaters, as well as two highly successful movies. What is it about the show that gets everyone excited? The plot? The characters? The costumes? Well, yes, to some extent these have added to the show’s success. But the main ingredient that makes it all work is the music of ABBA, the Swedish pop supergroup, with just about every major hit represented somewhere throughout the show. Every song is an infectious earworm, seemingly created in a lab to be the most hummable and most readily remembered songs in the entire pop music canon.
ABBA are not the first musicians to have their songs used as the basis of a musical; in fact, far from it. The so-called “jukebox musical” has been around far longer than any of us have been around, with the first being The Beggar’s Opera from 1728, a “ballad opera” sporting some of the best known songs of the early 18th century. Closer to our own time, some musicals in the 1930s and 1940s, such as Kismet and Song of Norway, would use the music of classical composers and set lyrics to them. Moving into the 1950s, movie musicals started using pastiches of popular composer’s songs, with An American in Paris using the songs of the Gershwins and Singin’ in the Rain using the hits of the 1920s. Through the rest of the 20th century, some jukebox musicals found their way to the stage, with a few of the more popular being Ain’t Misbehavin’ (using the music of “Fats” Waller and Tin Pan Alley), Eubie! (using the music of Eubie Blake), and Jelly’s Last Jam (a biographical musical of Jelly Roll Morton).
But it was Mamma Mia! That proved to be the inspiration to open the flood gates. Since its premier 25 years ago, literally dozens of jukebox musicals have made their way to Broadway and beyond, at times seemingly outnumbering original musicals and revivals. Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, American Idiot, Million Dollar Quartet, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, The Cher Show, and MJ: The Musical have all been box office hits. This current season has seen the premiers of both Once Upon a One More Time (featuring the music of Britany Spears) and Hell's Kitchen (featuring the music of Alicia Keys) on Broadway, with the latter earning rave reviews and positive box office.
It’s easy to see why the jukebox musical is so popular: where original musicals have to introduce the audience to brand new music and lyrics throughout, the jukebox musical has an automatic built-in audience who might know every song by heart without knowing anything about the plot or characters. Circling back around to Mamma Mia!, this has been, and continues to be, the case. Whatever one may think of the plot or characters, once songs like “Dancing Queen”, “S.O.S.”, or the title track come up, most of the audience are tapping their toes and mouthing the words. This all leads to an infectious party atmosphere that leaves everyone on a high note, so to speak. In the end, it’s all for the fun of hearing these songs placed in new contexts and given deeper meanings than they were ever originally intended. So, let the songs do their magic: sit back, imagine you are in the south of Greece, and enjoy a vacation from reality, compliments of Sweden and ESHS!
Director, Glenn Sidwell
