BROADWAY ROSE MAMMA MIA: I WENT AGAIN AND LIKED IT MORE IF THAT’S POSSIBLE

 

 

The first time I saw Mamma Mia: The Play, Kevin Pritchard still worked for the Portland Trail Blazer. It was about six years back when Portland had a guy who built the Blazers by ‘Pritch Slapping’ the NBA before he got fired for too much ‘Pritch Slapping.’

 

Mamma Mia: Touring Broadway Show played The Keller. My wife had seen it and wanted me to go.

 

“You’ll love it,” she said. “It does something.”

 

I wasn’t convinced. If I held out long enough with the right excuses she’d call a girlfriend. It usually worked, just not this time.

 

“I’ve seen it and want to see it again. That should tell you something,” she said.

 

 

It told me I was going on a husband/wife date. My mother in law filled out the carpool. She’d seen it before, too.

 

‘Great,’ I thought, ‘I’m going to an expensive venue with my wife and mother in law to see a show they loved, raved about, were mad about. And they’re dressing up? I have to dress up, too?’

 

I walked out for intermission at The Keller stunned. Not stunned as in, ‘what did I do to deserve this and when will it stop.’ More stunned by feelings I had welling up from I don’t know where, meaning I don’t know what. I saw my face in a reflection and saw the confusion.

 

Mamma Mia was tender and shocking in some numbers, rollicking and riotous in others, and always engaging. I put the thought from my mind that road shows are a shadow of the real thing, and road show actors are second stringers to Broadway stars. I hadn’t learned the real truth yet.

 

It wasn’t hard to change, given the stunning effect of the show. That’s when I saw Kevin Pritchard and he looked as confused as me by unrealized drama feelings. Other men in the crowd, not all but plenty, had the same inward searching expression.

 

‘Now I like ABBA? Now I have to buy a CD, cassette, reel to reel, eight track, album? There’s any around?’

 

Fast forward six years to last night and the Broadway Rose Theater Company’s Mamma Mia opening night at the Deb Fennell Auditorium on the Tigard High School campus. I was nervous, apprehensive even.

 

I’ve seen bands come to town and play their hits poorly and I can’t listen to them the same way. I wanted to keep my Mamma Mia memory, something I like to whip out when I play my man-card. “Yeah, well I love Mamma Mia. You can’t say that.”

 

With my wife, our two sons and their ladies, we showed up early. ‘Please, please, please,’ I thought, ‘do it right. Do it for me, my honey, my kiddies, my girlies. Let’s make a Mamma Mia memory even better.’

 

And guess what? Broadway Rose nailed it with a big hammer. This is my new Mamma Mia touchstone. Why, besides family, besides fulfilled expectations?

 

We sat in a row surrounded by fans who knew the words to every song. The old lady sitting next to me knew the words. She clapped time in front of the most beatific smiling face I’ve seen. I looked down the line and saw my guys and gals riveted to the stage.

 

The end of Mamma Mia reprises a couple of songs in a way, no spoilers, that made the place stand up and dance. I got a Rocky Horror Picture show audience participation vibe. Two weeks ago I saw Lady Day downtown and joined in with audience participation and I was ready for my next role.

 

Standing ovation? Yes. Last man standing? Second to last. Loved Broadway Rose Mamma Mia more than anyone in the theater?

 

 

Did anyone else go home and dance to Take A Chance On Me?

 

Dancing Queen?

 

Knowing Me Knowing You?

 

I blame Broadway Rose for all the singing and dancing and feelings and wonderment.

 

Who knew? I had my suspicions. There’s no place to hide on the Mamma Mia stage. If you’ve got the skills to stand in front of packed houses and sing full throttle big voice carry the room style like Peggy Taphorn did more than once, then you are something.

 

The notion of ‘being something’ came to me the first time I saw George Thorogood play. It was in a South Street Philadelphia bar in the ’70’s and he was amazing. I wondered how good a guy had to be to play a better stage.

 

Mamma Mia in Tigard is done on a major league stage with seats that acknowledge we actually have legs. Where do the players come from? Far and wide as it turns out. But who are they and why do they go to all the trouble of putting on shows?

 

From broadwayrose.org:

 

Peggy just completed her tenth season as the producing artistic director of the Temple Theatre in Sanford, North Carolina! And, this is her tenth production at Broadway Rose as either a performer, director, choreographer, or all three at once!! Peggy spent 22 years based in New York City with six Broadway and numerous Off-Broadway productions to her credit. Broadway shows include: Broadway and the Tony Award-winners Me And My Girl, Show Boat, Smokey Joe’s Café, and Urinetown. National Tours include: Anything Goes, Company, Little Women starring Maureen McGovern, and Sweet Charity starring Molly Ringwald. Peggy appeared on London’s West End in Show Boat. She portrayed Velma in Chicago in Macao, China. She has sung at such prestigious venues as The Rainbow Room, The Russian Tea Room, and Tavern On The Green. Recent accolades include the Kevin Kline award-winning Show Boat at the MUNY, the Drammy and Portland Area Musical Theatre Award-winning Hairspray and The Music Man at Broadway Rose. She has directed and choreographed for the North Carolina Symphony. Peggy was a 2013 North Carolina Mainstreet Champion for her dedication to revitalizing downtown Sanford. Most recently, she was awarded the 2016 Sanford Herald’s Lifetime Achievement Award. At the Temple Theatre she has produced over 90 productions, providing Broadway caliber shows at a fraction of the cost. Visit www.templeshows.com for more information! 

 

This is who came to Tigard for Mamma Mia, show people who know the meaning of live theater done right.