Customer Reviews

Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?: The Inside Story of Mamma Mia! and the Songs of ABBA

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After reading the 1994 book "ABBA-The Complete Recording Sessions" by Carl Magnus Palm, I thought I read all I ever would about how ABBA recorded some of their best known songs. However, this coffee table size book delves into greater detail on the origins of the 22 ABBA songs in the worldwide smash musical "Mamma Mia!" as well as great detail on the origins of the musical itself. It also goes into great detail on the foreign language versions of the musical. Any dismissive critics of ABBA (and you know who you are) would have to admit that Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (the two "B"s of ABBA) really knew what they were doing when they recorded all of those songs, based on all of the comments the 2 former ABBA members made regarding the ABBA recordings in this book. Hopefully it will be updated to include more info on the Russian language version that opened in Moscow in the fall of 2006.
And yes, the book contains plenty of photos of ABBA and the Mamma Mia! musical!!!
I also hope they update the book for the summer 2008 release of the film version. Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnin will star!!!

I admit it. I love Mamma Mia! Nothing makes me happier than watching the show. Reading this informative and loving book about the show, its beginings and its ongoing success takes you right back to your seat in a theater where you first saw Mamma Mia! on stage.

The photos are lush, colorful and interesting. The text is easy to read and gives a thorough account of how the show came to be and how it remains a constant night after night success around the globe.

It isn't often that something so dear to me personally gets such a loving treatment in book form. This is one of those rare times and it allows the reader to enjoy the celebration that IS Mamma Mia! over and over at their fingertips.

The large book is very reasonably priced considering its quality and the fine color photos throughout.

If you love Mamma Mia! you'll enjoy reading and owning this wonderfully adoring companion piece.

A great read, I couldn't put it down. The information it provided gave a great insight as to what went into creating the show. I had no idea that Donna was originally intended to have a boyfriend or songs like "Rock Me", "Summer Night City" and even "Fernando" were at one point in the script or that even "Waterloo" wasn't even added to the encore until the show hit Toronto. I was however surprised that Judy Craymer, when they were developing the movie, wanted "I Do, I Do" out of the script. To me, that is one of those movie moments that are so cheesy that its sweet and romantic. Still wishing that "Under Attack", "One of Us" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You" were included in the film. Maybe they're saving those songs for the unlikely but highly rumored and discussed sequel.

This book tells the story behind Mamma mia, one of the most successful stage musicals of all time. Judy Craymer, a theatrical producer, had the idea for a musical based around Abba's songs, but the idea would never have gone anywhere if she hadn't met the right people along the way. She once worked with Tim Rice, who also worked with two ex-members of Abba (Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus) on another musical, Chess, so Judy eventually got to know Bjorn. He made it clear to Judy that if her idea was to become a reality, it must not be based on the story of Abba (that would only re-open old wounds for him and the other ex-members of the group), that whatever story was written must stand on its own merit, and that any songs used in the musical must fit the storyline. Anybody who has seen Abba - the movie knows that it was really just Abba's greatest hits on film with a few segments between each song, but whatever had happened then, Bjorn certainly didn't want a musical that was just a feeble excuse to get more life out of the old Abba songs, but he was willing to support the project if Judy could find a playwright who was able to write a script that met Bjorn's highly exacting requirements. In those circumstances, he would allow any of Abba's songs to be used in the project.

Much of the book is devoted to the songs and their history. Interesting as this is, it is frustrating on one level because only the songs finally used in the musical are discussed. Perhaps another book could be compiled that gives this information for all their popular songs, whether or not they were used in the musical, but since this a book about the musical, we can`t complain about the omission of the other songs. Of the songs mentioned, some of the comments are fascinating.. I didn`t know that Name of the game was actually written about a woman in a psychiatrist`s chair - Bjorn had written the lyrics for a scene in Abba - the movie. In his comments, Benny said that the song wasn't a big hit anywhere, but everybody's entitled to the occasional mistake; it was one of Abba's number one hits in Britain. On the subject of Honey honey, it appears that Abba wanted this to be released as the follow-up to Waterloo, but their British record label (unlike their labels in some other countries) decided to go instead with Ring ring. Honey honey then became a top ten UK hit for Sweet dreams, while Ring ring was a minor Abba hit. After that debacle, Abba took much greater interest in what their record labels were doing with their music.

The rest of the book covers the history of the musical from Judy's idea to reality, with success way beyond expectations. Catherine Johnson, a single mother of two children who struggled to make ends meet, became the playwright. The book explains some of the problems involved in development. Catherine says that there were some songs that she would have liked to include, particularly Fernando, but they just wouldn't fit into the story she planned to write. As the project developed and the script changed, some songs were dropped and others added. Lyrics were sometimes tweaked to make them more suitable for the story, but not in any substantive way. This process continued right up to a few days before the official launch, when an opening sequence was abandoned. There were plenty of other problems too, but the success of the musical around the world shows that they were all overcome. Yet even after its successful launch in London, there were other problems involved in going global. I get the impression that its creators would have been content to allow it run for longer in Britain before going global, but the pressure came from outside. Other countries wanted to stage the musical too and this presented new challenges.

This is an entertaining book that will obviously interest Abba's fans, but because it provides an insight into what went on behind the scenes, may also interest people who are interested in theatrical productions generally.

Great book. I've already passed it along to my mom. We both loved it. A must for ABBA fans.

ABBA is now the second-biggest selling band in history (with almost half a billion records sold second only to the Beatles), and Mamma Mia! is one of the biggest success stories in the history of musical theatre and film. Despite the fact that Andersson and Ulvaeus are among the very top composers of the pop-rock era, there is a real lack of serious scholarship about the band and the music. This book helps to fill the gap. Consisting largely of excerpts from interviews with Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, along with many of the principals behind the stage and screen versions of the Mamma Mia! musical, there's a lot of valuable information here. Unfortunatley, in my view, the book would have been much better if these nuggets had been tied together by a competent author. The book is roughly in three parts. The first documents each of the songs found in the stage play. (There are a few variations in the film's soundtrack, not acknowledged here.) The observations by Benny and Bjorn are interesting but might have been stronger if combined with commentary by others with more objective views of the songs, many of which are deceptively complex and often underrated. The odyssey that led to the creation of the stage play is lovingly documented and this is perhaps the strongest part of the book. Unfortunately the final chapter, examining the production of the movie, was added to the earlier edition of the book and is more perfunctory, showing signs it was rushed to publication. There are many gorgeous photos throughout the book including some rare early views of ABBA when they were together and in harmony. Where are those happy days? They seem so hard to find.

Initially I was excited to find out that a book on the long running musical Mamma Mia would be coming out. After purchasing and reading the book I personally did not find it interesting nor did I feel there were much material to offer the reader.

If one is a collector of theater coffee table books you may want to purchase this just to add to your library.