The silver jumpsuits are accented with the appropriate number of sequins, the sleeves and pant-legs suitably flared. The story hasn’t changed — a winsome young woman, about to be married in Greece, invites three of her mother’s former lovers to the wedding in an effort to find out which one is her father, and zaniness ensues. Only the lyrics to the songs provide a tip-off this is not your classic staging of Mamma Mia!:
“Ni jiu shi ‘Dancing Queen’, shi qi sui, tianmei duo nianqing!”
Apparently, there’s just no stopping ABBA’s relentless march across the globe. A dozen years after the musical’s debut in London’s West End, a Mandarin-language version of Mamma Mia! opens this month in China, just in time for the 90th anniversary of the country’s Communist Party. Though the musical has already been performed in over 10 languages — from Russian to Korean — this latest incarnation marks a breakthrough on a couple of fronts. For one, China has a fairly limited knowledge of ABBA — for better or worse — given the fact it was still reeling from the Cultural Revolution when the Swedish quartet burst on the scene in the 1970s. It’s also the first time a major Western musical has been translated into Mandarin for an extended national tour.
