It's the Moopy and Mopey Show

I don't want to poop on Broadway shows. They're popular. And I used to like them years ago.

But I was disappointed in Mamma Mia, the show we saw last night with my parents. I bought us some very decent seats as a Christmas present to them. Thank g-d they liked it. I spent most of the show OTOH looking around at the audience, watching them hoot holler and dance, and wondering when the same enthusiasm for the show would rub off on me. It did- somewhat- eventually. I mean, Abba created some toe-tapping stuff.

But I couldn't seem to get beyond the gratuitous gags- both visual, as when the groom's pals flopped around stage in their snorkeling gear- and verbal, like the faux surprise the mom's friend displayed when caught in a sexual double entendre, coming from the same woman who earlier in the script pointedly implied she had all sorts of wild ways in her past. It was a little insulting to my intelligence. I felt like maybe I was being a snob- had my self-improvements led me so far from the mainstream? This could be alienating, but was it a bad thing?

Then there were the weak, off-key voices of the young male and female leads. And the grimacing older male lead. The older women had the strongest voices, but they didn't blow me away. The dancing was pretty good. But I was surprised- and this will sound hard-ass- by the poor physiques of several of the cast members. The boys were in better shape generally, but the women had better voices. No one really had both. What gives? Does talent avoid Broadway these days? I guess if you have a killer voice, you make an album. But if you dance well? Maybe you get yourself into a rap video. I really don't know.

-Moopy