For the Mamma Mia! leads: It's going to be more fun in the Philippines!

Imagine a theater group touring Europe for the blockbuster musical Mamma Mia!. They are all longing to go back home to their native Britain after a year of performances abroad. Then their musical director Nick Finlow tells them that they can’t go home yet as their contract will be extended…for four weeks more. They’re going to the Philippines, a place most of them have never been to.

And whaddayaknow? The cast and crew erupt into wild applause.

“The Philippines! Whoa! Yeah!” lead star Sara Poyzer, who plays Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep in the movie) in the musical, tells this writer. We are at the Renaissance Hotel in Zurich, the day after we watched them perform Mamma Mia! at the Theater 11, Thurgauerstrasse 7, on a chilly December eve in Zurich. Even then, they can’t wait to hop on a plane to Manila. (Coincidentally, the Mamma Mia! cast is coming from the place where the slogan “It’s More Fun…” is alleged to have been first coined.)

“We can’t wait. As much as we’ve enjoyed being here in Zurich on Christmas and New Year, I can’t wait to get on the plane and go to the Philippines…and have a swim!” Sara bubbles up.

Her husband, Richard Standing, who plays Sam Carmichael in the musical (Pierce Brosnan in the movie version), is more effusive.

“It was unbelievable,” Richard describes the cast and crew’s reaction to the news that they were going to Manila. “It was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to Manila!’ So yeah, we’ll make the most of it.”

“Everyone was so excited…” recalls Sara.

“Totally. Honestly. You are the prize!” Richard declares.

Charlotte Wakefield (who plays Donna’s daughter Sophie), for her part, says she simply “screamed” when she learned the show was going to Manila.

Her leading man David Roberts (who plays her fiancé Sky in the musical), who once played football with the Azkals’ Phil and James Younghusband in England, is looking forward to connecting with them again when he arrives in Manila.

David says the promise of the Philippine performance was, “literally getting us through” the final days of their Mamma Mia! run in Zurich.

It seems they’ve already heard that, “It’s more fun in the Philippines!”

* * *

A jumbo jet will be flying to Manila all the sets, costumes and musical instruments that the 56-strong cast and crew will be needing during their run at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, according to stage manager James Anderton. He estimates it will take three days to build the Mamma Mia! set at the CCP.

“We will bring everything that’s required to do the show. All the lights. All the sets. All the props. All the costumes. All we’ll need is a space to put the sets in. And electricity. That’s all we need,” Anderton tells us during an interview in Zurich on a Friday afternoon, during a break in the cast’s performances.

The story of Mamma Mia! unfolds on a Greek Island whose white sand beaches and blue waters are virtually in the backyard of most Filipinos. It is a familiar setting to them.

Mamma Mia! begins on the eve of Sophie Sheridan’s wedding on a Greek isle. She goes on a quest to discover the identity of her father and brings three men from her mother’s past back to the island they last visited 20 years ago. (I think the writers take creative license and don’t bring DNA testing into the picture.) The story-telling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs weave an engaging and enchanting tale of love, laughter and friendship.

Jennie Dale, who plays one of Donna’s BFFs Rosie, says audience reaction to Mamma Mia! is unique from city to city, “even if we do the same thing.” So the Manila response to Mamma Mia! is definitely something the cast is looking forward to.

Another of Donna’s BFF’s Tanya (played by Kate Graham) says, “All women see something of themselves in Donna, Rosie and Tanya. They’re like a version of Sex and the City on a Greek Island.”

In Manila, Jennie Dale would like to visit an orphanage. James Anderton, the stage manager, for his part, is simply dying to sample balut.

* * *

I first watched Mamma Mia! in Melbourne 10 years ago and was impressed at the ingenuity of building a story around 22 existing songs without the strain showing. It seemed like the story preceded the songs, for the weaving was seamless.

Secondly, I could relate with the ABBA songs because I’ve heard them as a little girl  and hear them still on the radio. They’re as timeless as The Stylistics’ Betcha By Golly Wow. And when you hear Dancing Queen, the lines between generations melt like feta under the Greek sun.

Some people may be uncomfortable at the complication in the story  a woman sleeps with three men in a month’s time and doesn’t know who fathered the baby born to her nine months later. But Mamma Mia! doesn’t condone promiscuity because there is a definite slant towards fidelity and commitment at the end of the musical. Instead, it is all about forgiving each other’s faults and supporting each other as one tries to move on and build a life despite the sins of the past.

The Inquirer’s Thelma San Juan, ABS-CBN’s Korina Sanchez and this writer with Mamma Mia!’s artistic director Steven Paling (left) and musical director Nick Finlow in Zurich, Switzerland.

I asked Sara and Richard who they think is the father of Sophie.

“Well, romantically, I think it should be Sam. But they kinda revealed that it’s possibly the adventurer…Bill (played by Charles Daish),” says Sara.

Richard disagrees. “My answer: for Sophie, ‘I don’t care which one of you is my dad.’ I am thinking ‘of course, it’s me.’ But also, I think that is the point of the play. It’s saying it really doesn’t matter. If we all love each other and take care of each other, that’s what a family is. I think the whole point of that last scene is saying a family is a collection of people who take care and love each other...”

And that is perhaps what we celebrate and dance to as we watch Mamma Mia!, for the first or for the umpteenth time.

We celebrate life, we celebrate love and friendships, we celebrate happy endings. We erase mistakes the way waves wash out sandcastles on the beach.

Mamma Mia! is a microcosm of our own island in the sun, and they’re going to play out our lives, our hopes and dreams in a setting that’s definitely going to be more fun  the Philippines!

Mamma Mia! will be presented in Manila by Infinity, powered by Smart and Citibank. It will be brought to Manila by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, David Atkins Enterprises, Hi-Definition Radio Inc. and Concertus Inc.

(For inquiries, call 891-9999 and for sponsorships, call Concertus at 403-8678).

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)