There’s a visible shift that spreads across an audience during Mamma Mia! – one that goes from shy engagement to full-bodied joy, as if muscle memory has kicked in and everyone suddenly remembers the words to Dancing Queen.
That collective response, so reliably evoked by this long-running musical, raises a deeper question: what purpose should a stage show serve once it has crossed the threshold from hit to institution?
Since its West End premiere in 1999, the Abba-fuelled jukebox musical Mamma Mia! has gone from being a breakout success to a shared cultural memory. It is a show so familiar to some in the audience, that they often collectively hum the songs before the curtain even rises.
The version currently playing at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, part of an international touring production, is a case study in what it means to stage something so popular and loved. The challenge does not lie in execution. By now, Mamma Mia! has been honed to a fine commercial polish: the touring cast hit their marks, the lighting cues are crisp and the music is performed with faithful gusto. It is, in every sense, a successful production.
The more interesting question is whether that success should still be measured in technical proficiency or whether – once a musical enters the cultural canon – the more pressing task is to find something new within it.
While bobbing my head along to the familiar tunes, I couldn’t help but think: should a show such as Mamma Mia! change? Or perhaps more accurately: for whom must it change? That may not be Mamma Mia!’s burden to bear. Classics endure for a reason, but as the musical celebrates more than two decades of sold-out runs and repeat performances, it invites some reflection: how do we keep something alive without embalming it?
This Abu Dhabi run delivers what audiences expect: escapism, warmth, glitter and the familiar groove of Abba songs. The plot, in which a young bride named Sophie invites three of her mother Donna's former lovers to her wedding to discover who her father is, remains secondary to the soundtrack.
While the dialogue is breezy and the stakes are gentle, the emotional architecture still has the potential to surprise. In this version, that potential is most visible in Steph Parry’s Donna, whose rendition of The Winner Takes It All resists melodrama and leans into a more controlled devastation.
It’s a performance that momentarily lifts the show out of its party-dress expectations and into something more raw and grounded – a vulnerability I’ve always found hard to locate in Meryl Streep’s otherwise formidable interpretation in the film adaptation.
Also deserving of mention is Ellie Kingdon’s Sophie, played with a disarming sincerity and vocal clarity that gives the character both weight and warmth. Donna’s longtime friends and former bandmates, Tanya and Rosie (brought to life with magnificent flair by Sarah Earnshaw and Nicky Swift) inject the production with verve, comic precision and impeccable timing. Their presence offers a necessary counterbalance to the show’s emotional currents, and their scenes together offer pure enjoyment.
These are performances likely shaped by experience rather than invention, but maybe that’s the point. In a play so well-known, elevation doesn’t always mean transformation.
For me, having seen Mamma Mia! multiple times, including when it came to Dubai in 2021, the broader production felt like it was playing too close to the template at points. There was a smoothness to the staging that, while admirable, felt cautious. Even some of the more spirited numbers, such as Voulez-Vous or Does Your Mother Know, were energetic but stopped short of fully surrendering to the moment.
However, for audiences seeing it for the first time, as many in Abu Dhabi could be, the show remains a revelation. The story’s optimism, the undeniable power of hearing Abba sung live – these things still have the capacity to feel fresh, especially when encountered without the weight of prior viewings. In that sense, the production is doing precisely what it needs to: making the old feel new again for someone else.
I attended the opening night, and the venue was near capacity. A decade ago, such productions arrived sporadically in the UAE, often met with curiosity rather than fervent demand. But in recent years, the frequency and reception of large-scale international musicals suggest a cultural shift is underway. It seems the capital is not just importing musicals, but also nurturing an audience for them.
The show’s final encore, a sequinned celebration of Dancing Queen and Waterloo was a beautiful shared moment between the cast, the crowd and even this critic. It was at this point – hands raised, lyrics mouthed back in unison – that Mamma Mia! reminded me why it endures.
The production’s staying power lies in its ability to gather strangers and turn them, at least temporarily, into a community. Is it a sign of theatre culture taking root in the UAE? I’m excited even just by the idea of it.
Mamma Mia! is at Etihad Arena until June 22. Tickets start at Dh125
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UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
Your Guide to the Home
- Level 1 has a valet service if you choose not to park in the basement level. This level houses all the kitchenware, including covetable brand French Bull, along with a wide array of outdoor furnishings, lamps and lighting solutions, textiles like curtains, towels, cushions and bedding, and plenty of other home accessories.
- Level 2 features curated inspiration zones and solutions for bedrooms, living rooms and dining spaces. This is also where you’d go to customise your sofas and beds, and pick and choose from more than a dozen mattress options.
- Level 3 features The Home’s “man cave” set-up and a display of industrial and rustic furnishings. This level also has a mother’s room, a play area for children with staff to watch over the kids, furniture for nurseries and children’s rooms, and the store’s design studio.
The specs: 2019 Subaru Forester
Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 182hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 239Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
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Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
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- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
Picture of Joumblatt and Hariri breaking bread sets Twitter alight
Mr Joumblatt’s pessimism regarding the Lebanese political situation didn’t stop him from enjoying a cheerful dinner on Tuesday with several politicians including Mr Hariri.
Caretaker Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury tweeted a picture of the group sitting around a table at a discrete fish restaurant in Beirut’s upscale Sodeco area.
Mr Joumblatt told The National that the fish served at Kelly’s Fish lounge had been very good.
“They really enjoyed their time”, remembers the restaurant owner. “Mr Hariri was taking selfies with everybody”.
Mr Hariri and Mr Joumblatt often have dinner together to discuss recent political developments.
Mr Joumblatt was a close ally of Mr Hariri’s assassinated father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The pair were leading figures in the political grouping against the 15-year Syrian occupation of Lebanon that ended after mass protests in 2005 in the wake of Rafik Hariri’s murder. After the younger Hariri took over his father’s mantle in 2004, the relationship with Mr Joumblatt endured.
However, the pair have not always been so close. In the run-up to the election last year, Messrs Hariri and Joumblatt went months without speaking over an argument regarding the new proportional electoral law to be used for the first time. Mr Joumblatt worried that a proportional system, which Mr Hariri backed, would see the influence of his small sect diminished.
With so much of Lebanese politics agreed in late-night meetings behind closed doors, the media and pundits put significant weight on how regularly, where and with who senior politicians meet.
In the picture, alongside Messrs Khoury and Hariri were Mr Joumbatt and his wife Nora, PSP politician Wael Abou Faour and Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon Nazih el Nagari.
The picture of the dinner led to a flurry of excitement on Twitter that it signified an imminent government formation. “God willing, white smoke will rise soon and Walid Beik [a nickname for Walid Joumblatt] will accept to give up the minister of industry”, one user replied to the tweet. “Blessings to you…We would like you to form a cabinet”, wrote another.
The next few days will be crucial in determining whether these wishes come true.
The biog:
From: Wimbledon, London, UK
Education: Medical doctor
Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures
Favourite animals: All of them
