MAMMA MIA!

MAMMA MIA! is the musical for people who don’t necessarily think of themselves as musical fans. It’s bright, funny, completely unashamed of itself, and powered by songs that most people already know before the opening credits have finished.

Amanda Seyfried plays Sophie, a young woman about to get married on the Greek island where she was raised by her mother, Donna. After discovering that any one of three men could be her father, she secretly invites all of them to the wedding, hoping she’ll somehow recognise the right one when he arrives.

Meryl Streep throws herself into Donna with complete abandon, surrounded by Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters and an absolutely scene-stealing Christine Baranski. Part of the pleasure of MAMMA MIA! is watching a group of extremely accomplished actors commit wholeheartedly to something so gloriously silly.

But underneath all the singing, dancing and questionable paternity, there’s a genuinely lovely film about family. Sophie begins the story believing there’s a missing piece she needs to find before she can move forward with her life. What she gradually discovers is that family doesn’t always fit into the neat shape we expect it to.

And then there’s ABBA. The songs are obviously irresistible, but what’s remarkable is just how naturally so many of them fit into the story. “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia”, “Take a Chance on Me”, “The Winner Takes It All” and the rest turn the whole film into something halfway between a musical and a very good party. I’ll be playing some ABBA-inspired house hits on the rooftop before the film to get you in the mood.

We’ve spent this open-air season celebrating the families we’re born into, the families we build, and the people who shape who we become. MAMMA MIA! brings all of that together in the sunniest, loudest and most unapologetically joyful way possible.

If you’ve seen it ten times, you already know why you should come. If you’ve somehow never seen it, a rooftop full of people singing ABBA under the Tbilisi night sky seems like a pretty good place to start..