Tabor Academy invites the public to their free performance of their winter musical, Mamma Mia!, on February 13, 14 and 15 at 7:30 pm.
Mamma Mia! is based on the music of the Swedish pop band ABBA, who were active between 1972 and 1982, and remain one of the most popular international groups of all time. In Catherine Johnson’s book for the musical, she uses the songs to tell the story of Donna, a single mother, whose daughter Sophie is about to get married and secretly invites three men who might be her father to her wedding. The story is set in the 1990s and pits the feminist, anti-marriage views of Donna, who came of age in the 1970s, against her daughter’s desire to know who her father is, and have the perfect, traditional wedding. As the story unfolds, mother and daughter each search for her own authentic identity, and how to love, authentically, within it. The combination of such universal themes as the search for love and identity, with the undeniably catchy (and for some, deeply nostalgic) music of ABBA, is probably why this musical, a preposterous idea on its face, so reliably hits home. The first production of Mamma Mia!, in London’s West End, opened in 1999 and is still running. Since then, Mamma Mia! has been seen by over 54 million people in more than 40 countries. Tabor Academy is proud to add this production to the many before it.
The show runs February 13, 14, 15 at 7:30 pm in Tabor’s Fireman Center for the Performing Arts in Hoyt Hall at 245 Front Street, Marion. It is free and open to the public, and no tickets or reservations are required. Carnations will be on sale in the lobby on Valentine’s day, as well as a full array of concessions every night.