Ahmanson Theatre 1:00 PM
There’s a reason ABBA has birthed a wildly popular stage musical, two movie adaptations and a holographic show: The hits are absolute bangers. “Dancing Queen,” “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight),” “Take a Chance on Me”: Those synth-laden bursts of 1970s pop perfection make for most of the fun in Mamma Mia!, the Mediterranean sun–soaked rom-com musical about a young bride-to-be who, unbeknownst to her single mother, invites her three potential fathers to her wedding for a vibes-based paternity test.
You can either thank or blame Mamma Mia! for the inundation of jukebox musicals in the quarter century since its debut, and the production at Downtown L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre is a largely familiar affair, albeit one with some winningly warm and scene-stealing performances, as Time Out’s theater critic Adam Feldman wrote in a three-star review of the touring show’s New York stint. The first act wackiness wanes when the second act asks for more interpersonal investment, but you’ll undoubtedly leave the theater on a high thanks to the three-song ensemble-led encore.
