Mamma Mia! at the Wolverhampton Grand: It’s a super trouper of a sunny musical

It is a story of love, friendship and identity is cleverly told through the timeless songs of Abba. The lead character is Sophie Sheridan, who is played by Lucy May Barker.

The action centres around her quest to discover the father she’s never known. It follows her story as Sophie’s mother comes face to face with three men from her distant romantic past on the eve of a wedding they’ll never forget.

The show, which runs at the Wolverhampton Grand from February 6 to 24, is irresistibly funny and has been thrilling audiences all around the world. Now it is coming to Wolverhampton for the first time.

Lucy May is looking forward to that – and says she has a blast playing Sophie each evening.

“Being able to create my own version of it is amazing. I want to transport people away to our little Greek island world. That helps them forget what they’ve seen before.

“Sophie has been played by others but this is my interpretation. I have so much to do in the show because the story is so full. I just trust the fact that I was chosen for the part and I bring my own confidence to it. There’s so much to do in this job.”

The show is irresistibly upbeat. The title of the musical was taken from the group’s 1975 chart-topper Mamma Mia. Benny and Bjorn, who composed the original music for Abba, were involved in the development of the show from the beginning while singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad became involved financially and has attended many of the premieres around the world.

The musical includes such hits as Super Trouper, Lay All Your Love on Me, Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Take a Chance on Me, Thank You for the Music, Money, Money, Money, The Winner Takes It All, Voulez-Vous, SOS and the title track. It has been seen by more than 60 million people around the world and a film version made in 2008 was a huge hit. That starred Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Stellan Skarsgård and Julie Walters.

Lucy May says the show is so resolutely upbeat that it’s impossible not to enjoy it. “I think it’s hard for everyone not to have a great time. It’s such a happy show and so if there’s someone in the company who’s down, it brings them straight up.

“People often come up with these amazing stories about how it makes them feel – the show is feel good. It’s so upbeat. It gives the audience the chance to escape for a couple of hours. It is an absolute dream come true to play the role. I absolutely love the show and getting to perform it to all the lovely audience around the UK is a feeling like no other.

“I grew up listening to Abba and we had the Abba Gold CD in my mum’s car, so I knew almost all the words already when I auditioned which was very handy ha ha!

“I love going on for Lay All Your Love, I love singing that number and from then on I don’t leave the stage for the rest of the act which is a total rollercoaster.”

The musical opened in the West End at the Prince Edward Theatre on April 6, 1999, and transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre on June 9, 2004, where it played until September 2012. It has also featured on Broadway and at other cities around the world.

The present British tour has been thrilled audiences the length and breadth of the UK and Lucy May says the responses have been remarkable.

“There was a review back at the start saying Mamma Mia should be available on the NHS. I’ve played it for the whole tour since 2016. With that comes fantastic opportunities for learning and developing the role. I’d like to think I’ve got better. You practice something eight times a week and different audiences and different places give you different things. We were in Birmingham for 10 weeks and it was great and people are generally happy and cheery in the West Midlands: they’re up for a good time.

“I’ve been to Wolverhampton before in other shows and the Grand is a beautiful theatre. There are some audiences that are slightly more serious in other parts of the UK, but Birmingham and Wolverhampton. But these are cities I love.

“To do big scale musicals that are uplifting and crowd-pleasing and positive is a gift.

“As a kid I did Annie and that really gave me the bug. Most of the people on stage or in the company had done it as kids, they’d done that in theatre school. So to go from doing that as a child to doing it as a professional in adult life is a dream. I try to always remember that. Not a lot of people have the opportunity to turn their childhood passion turning into their life passion – I’m one of the lucky ones.”