'Mama Mia!': Incandescent!! Dances set viewers on fire / IC honors Spanish novelist

It must have taken immense audacity and imagination to produce a musical about the search of Sophie Sheridan for her true father, her mother Donna having flirted with three men in the past. The collaborative idea which created “Mama Mia!” would have offended the finer sensibilities of many. But so clever, ingenious, delightfully amusing and entertaining is the musical that it has instead captivated millions around the world since it was staged decades ago. (It was first presented in London’s West End in 1991.)

ABBA’s 22 Swedish songs of the 70s, translated into English, are seamlessly interwoven into the script, and the story, which takes place on a Greek island before the wedding of the mystified Sophie, holds firmly, the songs sung without any alteration. Among them are “Chiquita,” “I Have a Dream,” “Dancing Queen,” “The Winner Takes It All” and “Honey, Honey”. The songs — marvelous, riveting — are actually two kinds: the earlier ones in the musical and the later which are more melodious, more lyrical. The young relate to the former; the “old”, to the latter.

Opera-lovers may not relate at all to the manner the pop songs are belted out: the higher the notes, how much more shrill the voices become! At any rate, with the drastic change in overall taste, theater-goers from East to West go “loco” over the ABBA songs.

Although the majority consider the songs the main driving force of “Mama Mia!”, the dances for me are what set it apart from other musicals. Rendered to pounding rhythms by two, three or by a vast group, they are energetic, fiery, dynamic, propulsive and, above all, characterized by astounding, indeed awesome precision. Their electrifying effect is nonpareil. Apropos, a youngster in the beach scene dazzles with his classic, acrobatic, street dancing. In the dancing-singing act of Donna (Sarah Poyzer), Rosie (Jennie Dale) and Tanya (Kate Graham), the singing would not be as devastating without the dancing by the glamorously attired trio.

Although action and stage movement must have been conceived long and thoughtfully, they appear completely natural and spontaneous, as in the extremely arresting bedroom scene enacted by the aforementioned threesome.

For most of the time, characters (both main and minor) argue heatedly rather than converse pleasantly — e.g., Sky (David Roberts) and his fiancée Sophie (Charlotte Wakefield); Donna and her former lovers (Richard Standing, Matthew Lloyd Davies and Charles Daish); Donna and Sophie. Such animated dialogue keeps the tension in high gear, compelling and sustaining interest while funny lines give comic relief.

The highly sensual pre-nuptial scene wherein Jennie Dale feverishly pursues one of Donna’s ex-boyfriends, is not for very young audiences yet countless children were at the gala opening.

With the story repeatedly recounted, all know that Sophie, on the sly, invites days before her wedding, her mother’s three ex-boyfriends. The actual wedding turns into a riot, with everyone — except the bewildered groom Sky — speaking vociferously, particularly Donna and Sophie!

The incandescent musical ends to ecstatic applause while the entire cast sings and dances again and again, spectacular lighting effects enhancing the act and leading to even wilder audience clamor.

Doubtless, “Mama Mia!” — it should have been named “Papa Mio!” — will continue to ignite Manilans. Credits go to Swedes Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson, the song writers; creative producer Judy Craymer; Catherine Johnson, playwright; Phyllida Lloyd, director.

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Tomorrow, Feb. 2 at 6 pm, Instituto Cervantes will hold “Los Mundos de Gonzalo Torrente” (The Worlds of Gonzalo Torrente), an exhibit of photographs documenting the life and works of a 20th century major literary figure. At 4 pm, a roundtable discussion will feature Spanish scholar Carmen Becerra, Torrente’s son Alvaro and Filipino writer-publisher Ramon Sunico.

Galician novelist Torrente Ballesteros, following the indifferent reception of his novel “Don Juan”, taught at Albany University from 1966 to 1985 as its first distinguished professor.

Two years later, he was elected member of the Spanish Royal Academy; in 1985, he received Spain’s highest literary prize.

At the forum, the audience will exchange literary ideas with Becerra, Alvaro and Sunico. The event is organized by the Instituto Cervantes whose cultural department is headed by Jose Ma. Fons.