‘Mamma Mia!’ spices up Richmond

The next musical that comes to the Landmark Theater has a great deal to live up to, being preceded by “Mamma Mia!” Who would have guessed that a laundry list of Abba songs combined with a two-day roller coaster ride about a wedding could be so entertaining and enjoyable? The songs are woven so well within the story that it’s difficult to believe they weren’t written specifically for the musical.

The play opens with Sophie (Kristie Marsden) sending wedding invitations to her three possible fathers; Sam (Don Noble), Bill (Pierce Bunting) and Harry (Tony Clements). Marsden does a brilliant job playing the lovable Sophie, who is so desperate to find her biological father that she goes behind her mother’s back to do so. We see bits of Sophie’s character from the beginning, when she frolics about the stage with her friends, Ali (Bethany Pagliolo) and Lisa (Joi Danielle Price), singing “Honey, Honey” and showing them her mother’s diary, where she found out about the three men who could be her father.

Sophie’s mother, Donna (Monique Lund), is stressed out about the wedding and finances, when her two friends, Tanya (Ellen Harvey) and Rosie (Robin Baxter), arrive to lighten the mood. From the moment these two take the stage, it is impossible to take your eyes off them. They are both dynamic and hilarious, two of the best and most entertaining characters of the play. Sophie’s three dads arrive soon after Tanya and Rosie. The most amusing of the three is Bill, who is a burly Crocodile Hunter-type Australian man. Harry is a straight-laced and conservative, bordering on pompous, British man. Inevitably it is the American, Sam, whom Donna really cares for. But Sophie finds out about them before Donna and sings “Thank you for the Music,” which sounds lovely, with the three of them.

When Donna walks in to find her three most important ex-boyfriends sitting in the restaurant of her hotel, she belts out the title song. This scene is particularly eye-catching because the lights become dark pink and red while the white spotlight is solely on Donna. Chorus members pop up behind scenery as well, which adds to the overall affect. Lund’s vocal ability is apparent from the first time she sings the line, “Does it show just how much I missed ya?” as she melts to the floor.

The scenes with Tanya, who is Donna’s snippy and elegant friend, and Rosie, who is Donna’s cute, boyish friend, are the most enjoyable. In “Chiquitita” and “Dancing Queen” they are dancing and playing with Donna to cheer her up. A particularly funny moment is when Rosie flings grapes around her chest like they are nipple tassels. At Sophie’s bachelorette party, the three women perform “Super Trouper” as their old group, Donna & the Dynamos, in sparkly white Elvis suits. The two sidekicks are also wonderful in the way they dealt with men in the play.

“Does your mother know?” was Tanya’s not-so-subtle way of squashing a young suitors attempts at pursuing her. She danced circles around him and rubs his face. Rosie has a slightly different approach in her relations with Bill. Before the wedding she decides that she has to have him and ends up chasing him through the aisles. By the end of the scene, however, he is hers, which becomes obvious as he playfully touches her ear before the wedding begins.

Marsden and Chris Bolan, who plays Sophie’s fianc