Hi, everyone. And welcome back to one of your favorite segments, The Sound of Musicals. 欢迎回来【曲外之音】. Hi, Oliver.

Hello, everyone, hello, Lulu.

So we're gonna continue with Mamma Mia, the jukebox musical.

Yeah. one of… maybe the first or one of the first jukebox musicals I can think of anyway, yeah.

There's so many more now.

They are everywhere. There seems to be one every few years somebody changes or adds the music from a popular band or singer and they're everywhere.

Yeah. Okay. So, in the previous episode, we were talking about the background. We also walked everyone through the story, which is a fun light-hearted story really, they were lots of like little twists, little plots, but the whole idea is pretty simple. Right? It's just a girl who is about to get married. She wants to find out who her father is. And then the whole story unravels.

So Oliver, what do you think are some of the themes in this particular story or in the musical?

Well. I'm gonna be honest, I've watched it a few times and I struggle to see any major themes if I'm being quite honest, it feels too light-hearted to have anything really deeper than that.

On the surface. It just like, it's just a feel good, happy ending musical.

Yeah. It feels like something you go out, you forget about the world for a little bit, and not really think about any major issues or anything life important.

But interestingly, there are some deeper or bigger themes hidden underneath all these song and dance.

First of all, surprisingly is feminism.

Really, feminism.

Think about the entire setting, think about the main character is a girl. And the main relationship is actually the relationship between her and her mother, and how they had misunderstandings, and then eventually they reconciliated.

And also, the mom is a single mother, although we talk about who was she with, but the fact is she wasn't like so hopelessly in love or groveling at any of these men's feet. She was enjoying her life. She was enjoying her friendship with her best friends. They're all women. If you think about it, it’s a huge group of women, it's like a support group almost.

That's true. I do remember the songs where they were singing and dancing and enjoying themselves and talking about the worries and everything together and doesn't Donna, the mother, doesn't she own the tavern on the island.

Exactly.

Where they all are. Yes, yes, there's no men involved there. It's all female owners and management and such. Yeah.

Yeah, and there's nothing like this whole toxic competition between women. It's more like they're very supportive of one another, if you think about it to have a kid out of wedlock, not knowing who the father is even nowadays is still problematic. Right?

So back in the days, there was probably more social stigma or supposed to be more social stigma. Yet with the support of her friends, nobody was, for lack of a better word, slut shaming her.

No, you don't get that feeling at all throughout the show. You're right. Yeah, there was nothing... There's confusion over who the father is, but there's no judgment on anyone, which is quite nice. Yeah. That's good. Yeah.

And the other thing is, the only one that actually judged her a little bit was her daughter. Her daughter originally was saying that “no, I don't want to be like you. When I have a kid, I want to know who the father is. I don't want to be like you”. But eventually they also reconciliated.

And the mom, Donna, the character is not just, you know, when you see single mother character, the stereotypical single mother is always like toiling away, suffering, being very lonely, being very just like hard done by that sort of imagery.

However, in this single parent household, they enjoy songs and dance and love and sunshine, happiness. I think that is also like a more of a positive take on what a single parent household could be.

Yeah, I got the feeling in some of the songs and the scenes with Donna and her friends that, actually, maybe Sophie, the daughter is a little bit more mature than Donna in some ways, because Donna is still dancing and singing with her friends. And her daughter is about to get married. So, yeah, yeah. There's definitely no sort of the usual single mother thing that you would find…

The bitterness.

Yes, no bitterness.

There's not that much bitterness.

Yeah.

Yeah. And interestingly you mentioned the daughter is more “mature” . You can call it maturity to be settling down when you're only 20, to find a man get married, and probably start having kids. But, you remember towards the end she didn't go down that path. She decided to travel first, to enjoy herself first.

And I think there's a message there, that it's okay to enjoy your youth, rather than just immediately thinking about responsibilities, your traditional roles that you have to fulfill.

Yeah, definitely, I get the feeling that the musical is kind of telling you not to take life too seriously sometimes, just see what happens enjoy yourself. Make sure you've got people around you who support you, who don't judge you, definitely her friends, Donna’s friends, don't… and just to see what happens. Yeah. Good message.

Yeah, exactly.

And, as we're getting into the music, I'm pretty sure you still remember some of the scores like “Gimme gimme gimme” or “Dancing queen”.

I remember, I think I can probably remember all of them quite well, if not from the musical, then certainly from my mother listening to them. Yes.

It's not probably just that you can remember them, maybe you will be able to sing along or at least hum the music hum the tune.

Oh. Definitely, I think that's one of the reasons why jukebox musicals are so popular, because you don't have to have ever seen the show before, to instantly recognize the song, to get involved, to sing, to hum. It's nice to be involved in that way as an audience member.

Yeah. It’s perfect for sing along, isn't it?

Definitely so, yes.

So, as we're getting into the music, so I'm gonna talk about the two pieces of music that obviously they are very, very popular, everyone can sing along to it.

The first is “Dancing queen”. So, in the “Dancing queen” it was... I think you probably still remember it's the mother talking with her girlfriends, reminiscing, remembering her youth, when she was a young girl, how she used to really shine at any dance parties. Because she was like the hottest, she was the prettiest.

Yeah, though, I think they're all just thinking back to those days and trying to convince each other that it's still there, they can still do it. It's still okay.

Yeah. And then so, I'm pretty sure a lot of people know this song or at least you've heard it before. So, the lyric is very simple like the three women they're saying “you're the dancing queen, young and sweet, only 17, dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine, you can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life”.

And then Donna says “you are a teaser, you turn them on, leave them burning, and then you're gone, looking out for another. Anyone will do, you're in a mood for a dance and when you get the chance”.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let's listen to this bit, but I'm pretty sure some of you can sing along to it, especially the older audience probably.

Yes, of course, the joy, the reminiscence of their youth, but this completely not feeling ashamed or shy of your sexuality.

Not at all, no, no, as you said, the line, you're a teaser, you turn them on. It's just straight in your face. This is what happened, no hiding it, no subtlety, no innuendo in a way. It's just bam. This is the truth.

Yeah, and if you think there's no subtlety in “Dancing queen”, then try “Gimme gimme gimme”.

Hahaha, it's even more upfront about it.

Yeah. This is when they were having the hen party. Oliver, could you explain to us? I think hen party, this is like the British way of calling it, Americans call it bachelorette party I believe.

Yeah, so in the UK before you get married, it's another tradition that the bride, the woman goes on a big night out and the party with her friends or girls. And that's called the hen party. So, it's the bride’s friends together there.

On the other side, you've got a stag party, which is the men going out and having a big party. But “Gimme gimme gimme” is Sophie’s hen party, so it's all females there, all women.

And if you want to know, so hen party is basically这种女生结婚之前跟自己的女性朋友一起出去的时候, 新婚前的最后疯狂单身女派对, 对应的是一个单身汉派对, 叫做stag party. In British English it’s called stag party. You guys are probably more familiar with the word bachelor party and bachelorette party in American English.

Now at this hen party, the women and they were singing this song called “Gimme gimme gimme”. And the lyric goes “give me give me give me, a man after midnight”, so give me a man after midnight, “won't somebody help me chase the shadows away, give me give me give me a man after midnight. Take me through the darkness to the break of the day.” So, this is blatant.

It's very, very upfront, especially since in that scene, Sam, Bill, and Harry accidentally walk into this hen party with all these women.

And the song is there to try and persuade these men to stay. So, very, very upfront.

Emm. But I think it's liberating. Because if you think about all these... in many cultures, traditionally women are supposed to be the passive, the passive ones, assume the passive roles in sexuality. It's the men who are chasing, pursuing women. Women are supposed to play coy, supposed to be more reserved.

Yes, certainly traditionally the women are supposed to be quiet and kind of reserved and as you say, passive and the men are supposed to chase the women.

But in this scene, fantastically, it's completely the opposite way around. The men are just trying to get out of there. They don't want be there at all, and the women are pulling them back and give me give me give me all this to these three men who are just trying to escape.

So, it's very, very good to see that on stage, upfront right there for everyone to see it, fantastic.

Very progressive, almost aggressive in this, just quite liberating actually. So, let's listen to that bit. I'm sure that sounds familiar as well.

So, I talked about two of my favorites. Do you have any music score in this that you particularly like, Oliver?

Well. My music choice is actually right at the end the last song, and not because I get to leave afterwards, of course. It's actually because at the end of the show, after the wedding scene, after the party, the actors and singers on the stage, they basically turn it into a concert performance. The song is “Waterloo”. And in some theaters and in the cinema, even when the movie was out, in the cinema, they turn the lights on, so everyone can see everything, the audience is completely lit up.

And they sing, they dance, the audience is involved. It's a show, it's a concert and I think that's fantastic. A great way to end a nice light-hearted musical, it’s brilliant.

Yeah, that really just turns musical theatre into a full on concert.

It does, yeah. Ending it in that way is quite nice and certainly memorable for anybody in the audience. They will remember that.

Yeah.

And just when you guys are wondering, it happens on a Greek island. Why is it called “Waterloo”? That's because you guys know the whole Waterloo, Napoleon lost and blah, blah, blah, all this滑铁卢, 不就是拿破仑打败仗的这个地方吗?

So, basically the lyric is more about “this is my Waterloo, I've lost, you won. I will cave in to your love We’ll be together.”

Yeah. It’s kind of a, I'm not gonna say it's a sad defeat, because they do get love at the end. But it’s a, yeah, I've lost, ok, you win, we can be in love type of song. So, it's good.

It's not like sad. I think it's just…

Not at all.

It's almost like, like flirting.

I'd say so yeah, definitely not sad at all. Flirting is probably a good way to describe it.

Emm. Okay, let's listen to that final song, that Oliver was talking about “Waterloo”.

Alright. I think that ends our little discussion about this jukebox musical Mamma Mia. I guess we can end with the namesake piece of music “Mamma Mia”. Here we go again.

Here we go again. That's another very good song.

Alright. Yeah. If you have anything else to say about Mamma Mia, leave us a comment in the comment section, or if you want to request any other musicals that you want us to talk about in the segment, let us know. And thank you Oliver for coming to the show again.

Thank you. I'll see you next time.

We'll see you next time. Bye.

Bye.