"Mamma Mia" at The Mountain Play

For over a century, there have been summer plays outdoors on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County. I have been twice now, first in 1994 to see Fiddler on the Roof with some friends, and now this year, to see Mamma Mia.

The Mountain Play is kind of an anomaly among local theater endeavors. It's basically community theater, but because it has such a large venue (3,750 seats in a stone amphitheater) and remote location near the top of the mountain, it attracts a huge number of people and some pretty talented artists, despite the relatively small number of performances (I think there were only five this year).

But musical theater is pretty popular, as is sitting in the sun on a warm summer day in Marin. So, there we were.

The Play

Where to start with this one? Mamma Mia certainly wasn't the first jukebox musical, but when it hit the stage in London in 1999, it made such a splash that it spawned a whole set of imitators.

From my perspective, what sets this show apart is that it actually has a goofy but reasonably coherent plot combined with the fact that the songs were barely altered to fit that plot. Most jukebox musicals either don't try to tell a story (or tell a history of the artist) or have to rework the lyrics of songs to fit together in a story (as I noted in my recent post on Escape to Margaritaville).

But this is a case where someone took a bunch of songs by ABBA and arranged them to fit a cute little story that totally suits the genre of the modern musical, but without rewriting them except for tweaking a word or phrase here or there. In part I suppose this might mostly reflect the rather nebulous content of ABBA songs, but on the whole I have to say the concept works exceptionally well.

So you have a bunch of pop tunes tied around a rather unique confused-identity mix-up leading into a wedding on a Greek island, where the proprietor of the taverna on the island just happens to have been the lead singer of a popular girl singing group Back in the Day. Of course.

As noted, it's silly, but it's fun, and since ABBA is so well known and singable, one finds oneself humming and singing along much of the time, and that's a big part of the fun. The absurdity of the premise is just all part of the fun, and totally forgivable because, hey, ABBA tunes!

The Production

As a friend of mine says, you never know what to expect with community theater, and runs the full range from awful to quite good. In the case of the Mountain Play, they have the advantage of a rather large budget to go with their large amphitheater, so it is kind of a standing tradition for people to go see it.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of this production. They were a little too enamored of their fancy, movable set pieces, and not all the voices were as strong as they ought to be, and they had a few technical difficulties with microphones. But that happens. On the other hand, most of the lead actors were at least passably talented, all could sing, and the choreography and dancing were surprisingly solid. I was particularly taken with a number where most of the ensemble danced onstage wearing colorful snorkeling vests, masks, snorkels, and fins, and proceeded to do an entire production number. In fins. Not easy. Totally fun.

I should mention that the stage in the amphitheater is quite large (because the amphitheater itself is quite broad). That's great for things like big dance numbers, but most of the action between the songs involves relatively small groups of people talking--often just a couple, maybe three. On an outdoor stage in broad daylight, it's hard to focus audience attention, and there were definitely times when I struggled to figure out where the action was.

But that's a detail. The play was quite well done.

Bottom Line

If they maintain this kind of quality, I would heartily recommend going in future years. There are some other considerations, however.

I mentioned the remote location. It can take a long time for the theater to clear, people to get back to their cars, and the traffic to filter down the windy, mountain roads back into town. There are shuttle buses that ease some of that, but you also have to figure out where to go and get there. A nice option for those who are capable is to walk down (or even up!) using the Dipsea trail. It's a lovely walk down (I did it the previous time I went) as long as you get back to civilization before it gets too dark.

Also, most of the amphitheater is open "festival" seating, so people arrive really early, reserve spaces, and then go off to enjoy the mountain and/or the food and crafts (and/or a picnic) before the show. So if you show up close to start time, you will be way off to the side in a corner, and the sightlines might involve trees and such.

We happened to go for the last performance of the season, which fell on Father's Day, so the place was completely packed. We weren't able to go early, so our seats were less than stellar.

But even given that, it was a lot of fun, and I still find myself humming ABBA tunes, several weeks later.

I have no idea what play they will do next year, but it would definitely be worth checking out, if only for a fun afternoon on the mountain in the sun.