I've expressed my dislike of the jukebox genre in this blog before, but this is my one big expection. The original jukebox show. My first musical. I love ABBA, and what's more, I really enjoy Mamma Mia!'s story. It's silly, sure, but in a way that makes me smile. And I like how it's so strongly about the female characters. Overall, it's great fun. I've been excited ever since they announced the musical will be staged here in Finland, in Svenska Teatern.
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| The cast posing for the press in Friday's info event. |
I love the source material, and the cast that was just released seems rather promising. So, it's going to be a great show, right?
Well...
Svenska Teatern is staging a replica of the original production of Mamma Mia!. They're duplicating the production that's been staged all over the world and has even visited Finland on tour before. The direction, the sets, the costumes... It'll be the thing that everybody who's seen the show in London or in New York has already seen. They'll be localizing the script to Swedish-speaking Finland with new names for a handful of characters and some revisions to the dialogue itself (nice!) – but when it comes to the visuals, it'll be the same stuff every other production is made of.
Weirdly enough, this is not because the production company that holds the rights to the show doesn't allow any different productions of the show at all. The first non-replica version of Mamma Mia! ever is being produced in Hungary right now. So why on earth couldn't Finland be the home to world's second unique production?
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| Lineah Svärd, Katariina Lantto and Tara Toya will play Sofie, Ali and Lisa. |
I'm still glad I'll be seeing the show again. I've seen the world tour twice, I went both times it visited Helsinki. The first time in 2007 was the first time I ever saw a musical live! So I'm sure seeing the new Finnish production will be an fun nostalgia trip.
But even so, I find it disappointing they're doing a replica. Sure, musicals have been replicated in Finland before. Åbo Svenska Teater's Les Misérables was a replica of a previous German production, and in turn, the current Tampereen Teatteri Les Mis is a close copy of the ÅST production. Svenska Teatern's previous success, Kristina från Duvemåla, was also a partial replica of the original Swedish show. But when it comes to the biggest Broadway and West End productions, Finnish theatres don't tend to do copies. So, why to produce a replica in Mamma Mia!'s case? Is the original production really so perfect that there's no chance it could be improved in any way if given in the hands of a new Finnish creative team?
Of course, when you buy the rights for a world-famous success concept, you know what you're getting. You'll have the show millions of people have enjoyed before and the Finnish audience will likely enjoy too. But still... I think it's a shame they won't give the direction a new spin. Wouldn't the show be even more fun if it was something nobody in the audience has seen before?
What's more, Mamma Mia! is likely the most expensive musical Finland has ever seen. The seats that don't fall into the limited visibility categories range from 88 to 68 €. If you're a student, you'll enjoy the generous student prices: only 78 € for the best seats, like 90% of stalls, and 66 € for, for example, the very front row. If seeing is not a priority for you, you can book a "really limited visibility" seat for only 20 € – but if you enjoy actually watching what's going on, too bad. Even C-seats with somewhat limited view cost 40 € for students and 45 € for adults. (See full pricing here and a seating plan here.)
The theatre has already sold over 60 000 tickets, so clearly, they can ask for as much as they'd like and people will still buy their tickets. I have bought mine already (B-seat, 66 €). But still, I think from 78 to 66 € for seats with undisturbed view is no student discount. Nor is 40 € for limited visibility. And I can't help wondering if the decision to copy the original direction has bloated the prices overall...
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| Donna and the Dynamos! Mia Hafrén will play Donna, Anna Hultin and Maria Sid will alternate as Rita (Rosie), and Veera Railio will play Tanja |
All in all, it's nice that Mamma Mia! is coming to Helsinki. It's such a feel-good show, and I'm happy to get the chance to enjoy it live once more. I'm already certain I'll leave the theatre smiling and hum ABBA tunes for the following two weeks.
It's just a shame we're not getting new sets, costumes, or ideas as a part of the costly feel-good package.
Related: more about non-replica productions. Plus I saw another good jukebox musical, once [Finnish only].
Svenskan ei valitettavasti ole tunnettu halvoista lipuistaan...
ReplyDeleteOlen kuitenkin samaa mieltä siitä, että Mamma Mia! on jukebox musikaaliksi hyvä. Itse en myöskään ole mikään jukeboxejen ystävä. Olen nähnyt Mamma Mian kerran Lontoossa ja silloin sattui olemaan sen verran häiritsevä yleisö, että olin vähällä lähteä väliajalla pois :(
Saa nähdä miten tuo alkuperäinen lavastus jne. toimii Svenskanissa!
Pari perheenjäsentäni koki taannoin saman Lontoon Mamma Miassa. Lieneeköhän yleistäkin? Eivät muutenkaan olleet kovin innoissaan; esiintyjät eivät vakuuttaneet ja ulkoasu oli kuulemma tylsä. Koreografiasta sen sijaan olivat pitäneet. Lavastuksesta ja puvustuksesta olen kuvien perusteella aika samaa mieltä, ja siksikin harmittaa, että Svenskan katsoi parhaaksi ostaa alkuperäispaketin. Esimerkiksi Djungelbokenin lavastus oli aivan upea, joten oman talon voimin olisi aika suurella todennäköisyydellä saatu aikaan jotain hienompaa kuin Lontoossa. Olen fanittanut Abbaa lapsesta asti ja olen kanssanne samaa mieltä siitä, että MM! on muuten tympeiden jukebox-musikaalien aatelia, mutta noilla lipunhinnoilla tuskin päädyn Svenskaniin.
DeleteIhmettelen sinänsä tuota replicoiden leviämistä juuri Mamma Miasta, koska en ole kuullut kenenkään hehkuttavan sen lavasteita samaan tapaan kuin esimerkiksi Phantomin lavastusta, joka on käsite itsessään. Kaiken lukemani perusteella Mamma Mian ulkoasussa ei ole mitään niin järisyttävän upeaa ja kekseliästä, että se perustelisi jatkuvan replicoinnin, mutta jotenkin kaikki teatterit haluavat juuri sen. Luulisi, että Abban musiikki olisi se juttu ja riittäisi houkuttelemaan yleisön eikä ulkoasu olisi kovin merkitsevä tekijä.
Budapestin produktion miehitys julkaistiin myös männäviikolla, ja vaikka seassa on jokunen todella outo ratkaisu (mm. pari laulutaidoiltaan kyseenalaista lööppijulkkista ja yksi täysin karismaton Harry), taidan silti mennä mieluummin katsomaan sen jos vain mahdollista. Usein ostan mieluummin sian säkissä kuin jo kaikkialla nähdyn sian.
Elwingda: Eipä todella, saihan jo Kristinasta maksaa hirvittäviä summia (tosin ei ihan näin hirvittäviä)... Onneksi sentään Djungelbokenin kalleinkin lippu on vain 34 €!
DeleteAjattelin viimeksi Lontoossa käydessäni, että voisin nostalgiatrippailla tieni Mamma Mian katsomoon – mutta näistä kokemuksista päätellen on ehkä ihan hyvä, että päätinkin odottaa Helsingin ensi-iltaa. Täällä osataan toivottavasti käyttäytyä katsomossa vähän nätimmin!
Laura: En ajatellutkaan tuota, mutta totta puhut – enpä ole minäkään koskaan kuullut kenenkään ylistävän Mamma Mian pukuja tai lavasteita. Tai no, lasketaanko kauhunsekainen kikatus, kun Donna ja Dynamot astelevat lavalle ABBA-haalareissaan..?
I think I finally understand your views on replica vs. non-replica productions. I haven't had a chance to see multiple versions of the same show to really be able to understand. I do like the replica productions, like the ones that go on tour across this country, because it gives me a chance to see how the show was originally conceived. Most people probably don't have a chance to see the original production, so I like that the tours give me and others a chance to see that.
ReplyDeleteBut having seen a couple of non-replicas of Les Mis now, I can see how different a non-replica production can be and how it can make you think of aspects you'd never thought of and how it can make you think of characters and situations in a different way. In fact, I wasn't making any plans to go see the new production on Broadway because, hey, it's the same thing they toured with that I saw in every Texas city it stopped in and then some. It's the same one that I saw in Toronto. With nobody in the principle cast particularly exciting me, why would I spend the money to travel that distance to see the same thing I'd seen many times before (and without my favorite cast)? If it'd been something different, I would have been much more excited to go see it. (I did wind up seeing it, but only because there was something else that excited me enough to go to New York, and seeing Les Mis was an added bonus. But still, I was sort of let down just because I'd seen the same exact thing done better, and it sort of lessened the "magic," if you will, of seeing it on Broadway.)
With Mamma Mia!, like you said, it's done a world tour and stopped in Finland before, so I can totally understand you wanting to see something different.
Yeah... I guess my perspective might be a bit different if I hadn't been lucky enough to travel to London multiple times to see the originals. It's of course fun to see the original stagings too, to find out how some show looked like when it first started!
DeleteBut yes, exactly – if the direction offers nothing new, the cast really has to be absolutely amazing, otherwise you'll just end up feeling you're watching a watered-down version of something you saw already.
Your comment is by the way something a lot of Finnish theatre people should read – so many seem to think Broadway is the ultimate theatrical experience on the planet, it's considered a compliment to say some performance was almost as good as on Broadway... It'd be good for people who say so to read that even people who actually get to see stuff on Broadway may sometimes prefer a different production over the Broadway one. ;)