Transcendence Theatre Company closes out its 2026 “Broadway Under the Stars” series with the popular ABBA jukebox musical, Mamma Mia!
It’s the show’s first Sonoma County appearance after a couple of Marin County mountings including a 2018 production by The Mountain Play atop Mt. Tamalpais and a season-closing production just this past May by the Novato Theater Company. The Transcendence production, directed by Tony Gonzalez, runs outdoors on the Field of Dreams in Sonoma through Aug. 30.
One doesn’t have to like or even know the work of the Swedish pop music supergroup ABBA, but it sure helps as the audience is gonna hear about two dozen of their songs before the night is over. They’ve been worked, some more successfully than others, into a somewhat nonsensical plot about a bride-to-be’s wedding day plan to meet her heretofore unknown father.
After reading her mother’s diary, 20-year-old Sophie Sheridan (Karsten Lane Flake) has invited the three men her mother Donna (Allison Pierce) had a fling with 21 years ago to attend her Greek isle wedding: Sam (Blake Whyte), Harry (Matt Gibson) and Bill (Brian Ray Norris). In no time at all, she manages to invite all three to walk her down the aisle, deceive and alienate her fiance Sky (Elton J. Tanega) and tick off her mother. Fear not, all will be resolved by show’s end.
Folks don’t attend musicals like this for the plot, they attend for the music—and the cast gathered by director Gonzalez and the musicians gathered by music director Susan Draus and conducted by Kenji Harada deliver the goods.
Strong vocals are a hallmark of Transcendence productions, with Flake’s delivery of “I Have a Dream” and Pearce’s wrenching “The Winner Takes It All” good examples.
The ensemble pieces spotlighting choreography by Monica Kapoor, including “Money, Money, Money” and “Lay All Your Love on Me” featuring the famous flipper “ballet,” were highlights.
The cast is uniformly strong, but the fine comedic work by Lori Haley Fox as Donna’s friend Rosie really stood out. Fox has been affiliated with almost every iteration of the show including the original 1999 West End production, the Broadway run, the National Tour and the 2008 film. She’s a hoot.
Mamma Mia! is the theatrical equivalent of a popcorn movie in that it really serves no purpose other than to entertain and requires no great thought. The swinging and swaying opening-night audience was just fine with that.
Transcendence Theatre Company’s ‘Mamma Mia!’ runs Thu-Sun through Aug. 30 at the Field of Dreams, 151 First St. West, Sonoma. Venue opens at 5pm, show starts at 7pm. $44-$165. 877.424.1414. bestnightever.org
