MAMMA MIA

Mamma Mia! is a jukebox musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA.

Over 60 million people have seen the stage show worldwide and two film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Stellan Skarsgård and Julie Walters was released in July 2008 – Mamma Mia and 2018 – Mamma Mia Here We Go Again.

Mamma Mia Synopsis

On the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi (Skopelos), 20-year-old Sophie is preparing to marry her fiancé, Sky. She wants her father to walk her down the aisle (“Prologue”) but doesn’t know who he is. Sophie discovers her mother’s old diary and finds entries which describe intimate dates with three men (Sam Carmichael, Bill Austin [Anderson in the film version], and Harry Bright) (“Honey, Honey”). Sophie believes one of these men is her father and, three months before her nuptials, sends each an invitation to her wedding, writing in her mother’s name, Donna, without letting her unsuspecting mother know.

The day before the wedding, Donna begins receiving guests at her taverna. The first to arrive are her long-term best friends, Tanya, a rich woman who has been married and divorced three times, and Rosie, an unmarried, carefree woman. The trio used to comprise a girl group called “Donna and the Dynamos”. The three women catch up and talk about their lives (“Money, Money, Money”).

Later that day, Sophie’s three possible fathers arrive: Sam (an American architect), Harry (a British banker), and Bill (originally an Australian writer and adventurer, Swedish in the film, and currently American in New York and on tour). Sophie convinces them not to tell Donna that she invited them (“Thank You for the Music”). Donna is surprised to see her ex-lovers (“Mamma Mia”) and leaves in tears. Donna, crying, explains to Tanya and Rosie the situation, and they cheer her up (“Chiquitita”). Tanya and Rosie try to convince Donna that she can still be the girl she once was (“Dancing Queen”).

Sophie had hoped she would know her father the moment she saw him but is now only confused. She tries to tell her fiancé, Sky, how she feels without confessing what she has done. Sky tells her he will be the only man she ever needs (“Lay All Your Love on Me”).

At Sophie’s hen party, Donna and the Dynamos don their old costumes and perform a song, (“Super Trouper”). Sam, Bill, and Harry accidentally walk in on the party, and the guests persuade them to stay (“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)”).

Sophie first pulls Sam out of the room to talk to him. After he asks why he is there, she is overcome with guilt and goes to talk to Harry, instead. But Harry asks if Sophie’s father is at the party, and she tells him the whole truth.

Lastly, she draws Bill aside to talk with him. She learns that Bill has an aunt Sophia who left all her money to Donna’s family. Bill learns that Donna built the taverna with money she inherited from a friend she lived with when Sophie was a baby; that friend was Bill’s aunt. They both think this means he is her father.

Sophie asks Bill to walk her down the aisle, but Bill wants to discuss it first with Donna. This has been her secret, after all. But no one knows yet that even Donna does not know who the father is, because she slept with the three men in such swift succession. Sophie insists they must not tell Donna anything (“The Name of the Game”) and finally, Bill agrees.

Afterward, everybody crashes the hen party (including the guys from the stag party). During the party, Sam pulls Sophie aside and tells her he has figured out why she invited him. He knows he is her father and promises to walk her down the aisle the next day. Then, Harry approaches Sophie, apologizing for being so slow on the uptake; he is also convinced that she is his daughter and promises to walk her down the aisle. Sophie leaves the party, hopelessly confused; she doesn’t want to turn any of them down (“Voulez-Vous”).

Sophie’s having a nightmare, involving her three possible fathers all fighting for the right to walk her down the aisle and wakes up despairing (“Under Attack”).

Sophie’s upset, and Donna assumes that Sophie wants to cancel the wedding and offers to handle all the details. Sophie is offended and vows that her children won’t grow up not knowing who their father is. As Sophie storms out of the room, Sam enters and tries to tell Donna that Sophie may not be all she seems, but Donna won’t listen (“One of Us”). She hates Sam; at the end of their affair, she said she never wanted to see him again. But it seems that Sam was the man Donna cared about the most, and both of them wish they could go back to the start (“SOS”‘).

At the beach, Harry asks Tanya what the father of the bride ought to be doing for Sophie’s wedding. Tanya explains that for her part, her father gave her his advice and then paid. Pepper, one of the guys who works at Donna’s taverna, makes advances to Tanya, but she rebuffs him (“Does Your Mother Know”).

Sky finds out what Sophie has done in inviting Sam, Harry and Bill to the wedding. He accuses her of wanting a big white wedding only so that she can find out who her father is. He’s very hurt that she kept this plan a secret from him. He storms off just as Sam walks in. Sam tries to give Sophie some fatherly advice by describing his failed marriage (“Knowing Me, Knowing You”), but Sophie isn’t consoled.

Harry offers to Donna to pay for the wedding, and they reminisce about their fling (“Our Last Summer”). Sophie arrives and Donna helps her get dressed. She cannot believe her daughter is going to be a bride (“Slipping Through My Fingers”). Donna admits that her own mother disowned her when she learned that she was pregnant. They reconcile and Sophie asks her mother if she will walk her down the aisle. Sam arrives and tries to speak to Donna again, but she doesn’t want to see him, and asks him to leave. He refuses, and a bitter confrontation ensues. Donna tells Sam that he broke her heart, presumably when she found out he was engaged (“The Winner Takes It All”). It emerges that the two still love each other dearly, albeit against Donna’s better judgment.

Rosie is making final preparations in the taverna when Bill arrives. He’s upset because he has received a note that Donna will be walking Sophie down the aisle. Bill reaffirms his commitment to the single life, but Rosie has become attracted to him, and urges him

to reconsider (“Take a Chance on Me”). They are about to have sex in the taverna, but the guests arrive, leaving Rosie quite stunned.

The wedding begins, with Donna walking Sophie down the aisle. Before the priest has a chance to begin the ceremonies, Donna acknowledges to everyone that Sophie’s father is present. Sophie tells her mother that she knows about her father. Donna realizes that Sophie invited them to the wedding for that very reason. The issue of Sophie’s parentage is left unsettled, as none of them have any idea whether they are actually her father. Everyone involved agrees that it does not matter which one of them her biological parent is, as Sophie loves all three and they are all happy to be “one-third of a father” and a part of her life at last. Finally, Harry, who has made frequent references to his “other half” throughout the show, is revealed to be in a committed gay relationship.

Suddenly, Sophie calls a halt to the proceedings. She isn’t ready to get married and Sky agrees with Sophie about not getting married. Sam seizes his chance and proposes to Donna in order to prevent the wedding preparations from going to waste. He explains that he loved her, even when he left to get married. It is revealed that he called off the wedding with his fiancée and came back to the island, only to be told that Donna was going out with another man (Bill). He went back, married his fiancée and had children but he got divorced. Surprisingly, Donna accepts (“I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do”). In the end, Sam and Donna are married, and at the end of the night, Sophie and Sky depart on a round-the-world tour (“I Have a Dream”).

Mamma Mia – Here We Go Again Synopsis

Sophie Sheridan is preparing for the grand reopening of her mother Donna’s hotel, following Donna’s death a year earlier. She is upset because two of her fathers, Harry and Bill, are unable to make it to the reopening and she is having trouble in her relationship with Sky, who is in New York, over her memorializing her mother’s life.

In 1979, a young Donna has just graduated from university with Rosie and Tanya, and is getting ready to travel the world. While in Paris, she meets and parties with Harry. They spend the night together, but Donna leaves soon after. She later misses her boat to Kalokairi but is offered a ride by Bill, and along the way, they are able to help a stranded fisherman, Alexio, make it in time to stop the love of his life from marrying another. Unbeknownst to Donna, Harry has followed her to Greece; but he arrived too late, and sadly watches the boat sailing off in the distance.

In the present, Tanya and Rosie arrive to support Sophie with the reopening and it’s revealed that Rosie and Bill have split up. Sophie then visits Sam, who is still grieving over the death of Donna. Back in the past, Donna arrives on the island and while exploring the farmhouse, a sudden storm causes her to discover a spooked horse in the basement. She goes in search of help only to find a young Sam riding his motorcycle and he helps her to save the horse. Back in the present, a storm has caused serious disruption to Sophie’s plans for the grand reopening and prevented media coverage of the event.

Back in the past, Donna and Sam are enjoying a whirlwind romance, that ends when Donna discovers a picture of Sam’s fiancée in his drawer. A devastated Donna demands that Sam leave the island. In the present, Sam tells Sophie about her value to her mother. Meanwhile, Harry leaves his business deal in Tokyo to support Sophie, and separately Bill gets the same idea. Bill and Harry meet at the docks but are told there are no boats. However, Bill meets the fisherman Alexio and thereby secures boat passage for himself, Harry as well as the newly arrived Sky.

In the past, a depressed Donna is heartbroken over Sam but is able to channel her anger into singing with Tanya and Rosie. She meets Bill again and they go out on his boat; while they are gone, Sam returns, having recently ended his engagement for Donna, but is saddened to hear that she is with another man and leaves the island again. Donna discovers she is pregnant but has no idea which one of her three recent lovers is the father. Sofia, the mother of the owner of the bar where Donna and the Dynamos performed, overhears Donna’s wish to stay on the island and offers to let Donna live at her farmhouse and Donna happily accepts. It is there that she eventually gives birth to Sophie.

Back in the present, the guests have arrived at the party and Sophie is reunited with her other two fathers and Sky. Sophie reveals to Sky she is pregnant and has never felt closer to her mother, having now understood what her mother went through. Bill and Rosie reunite over their grief for Donna. Sophie’s estranged grandmother and Donna’s mother, Ruby, arrives despite Sophie deciding not to invite her. She reveals that Sky tracked her down in New York and she wants to build a real relationship with Sophie. Sophie then performs a song with Tanya and Rosie in honor of her mother, with her grandmother tearfully telling her afterward how proud she is of her. It is then revealed that the manager of the hotel, Fernando, is Ruby’s ex-lover from 1959 in Mexico, and the two are joyously reunited.

Nine months later, Sophie has given birth to a baby boy and everyone has gathered for his christening where Tanya flirts with Fernando’s brother. The ceremony takes place with Donna’s spirit watching over her daughter with pride. At the end, all the characters, including Donna and the younger cast, sing “Super Trouper” at a huge party at Hotel Bella Donna.

Mamma Mia Backing Tracks – Chiquitita   …   Dancing Queen …   Does Your Mother Know …   Gimme Gimme Gimme A Man After Midnight …   Honey Honey …   I Have A Dream …   Knowing Me Knowing You …   Lay All Your Love On Me …   Mamma Mia …   Money Money Money …   Name Of The Game …   Slipping Through My Fingers …   SOS …   Super Trouper …   Take A Chance On Me …   Thank You For The Music …   Under Attack …   Voulez Vous …   Waterloo …   When I Kissed The Teacher …    – Winner Takes It All …

Mamma Mia – Here We Go Again Backing Tracks – Andante Andante …   Angel Eyes …   Dancing Queen …   Fernando …   I Have A Dream …   I’ve Been Waiting For You …   I Wonder …   Kisses Of Fire …   Knowing Me Knowing You …   Mamma Mia …   My Love My Life …   Name Of The Game …   One Of Us …   Slipping Through My Fingers …   SOS …   Super Trouper …   The Day Before You Came …   Thank You For The Music …   Waterloo …   When I Kissed The Teacher …   Why Did It Have To Be Me …