"Mamma" stands test of time

July 12, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

Think back to the fall of 2001. America needed comfort food to deal with the 9/11 aftermath.

However, no one ever expected the answer to be a new stage musical based on the hit songs of ’70s pop band ABBA. In fact, for some discriminating theatergoers, such a notion was akin to Broadway terrorism or the apocalypse.

One such cynic was veteran stage manager Glynn Turner, who earnestly and unexpectedly experienced the alluring power and magic of “Mamma Mia!” first-hand. Yep, he took a chance on the musical and wasn’t disappointed.

“My first show was the Toronto production,” said Turner, calling from Kingston, Ontario. “I grew up in the ’70s, and I knew every bit of the music. I was a fan, but I was very skeptical. I thought I was going to go see this but it was going to be kind of a joke. Then I was kind of blown away at how well it was done, how they actually made a story that worked and how the music sounded almost exactly like I remembered it.”

A short time later Turner became the stage manager of the national touring production of “Mamma Mia!,” which returns to Northeast Ohio for shows Friday through July 22 at PlayhouseSquare’s Palace Theatre. At just over a decade, the sing-along show has been seen by more than 50 million people around the world and remains among Broadway’s top-selling musicals.

In many ways, “Mamma Mia!” is the musical show that changed Broadway forever. Turner, whose Broadway and national tours include “How to Succeed in Business Without Trying,” “Priscilla,” “La Cage Aux Folles,” “Dirty Dancing,” “The Color Purple,” “Full Monty,” “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Victor/Victoria,” is the perfect person to offer perspective on this phenomenon.

“‘Mamma Mia!’ will be remembered first of all because people said it would never fly,” Turner said. “Also, it broke the ground to actually do the jukebox musical and make it a viable thing, which some people are saying it’s the wrong door to open, but when you think about it, there’s so much great music out there that really has no place unless they do something like this. And if ‘Mamma Mia!’ didn’t happen, ‘Jersey Boys’ would never have happened.”

Naturally, the glue holding the story together is the music, including ABBA’s songs “Dancing Queen,” “S.O.S.,” “Money, Money, Money” and “Take a Chance on Me,” but the story about a spirited daughter’s search for her real father to walk her down the aisle taps into an emotional gravity that is universal. This explains why its 2008 feature film grossed $600 million worldwide and is the most successful movie musical of all time.

More so, think about “Mamma Mia!” playing Playhouse-Square in a touring production over a decade after its initial debut. There are only a few shows — “Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Mis rables” come to mind — that could pull off such a feat.

So, naturally, there’s a timeless feel about the plot. But what is it about “Mamma Mia!” that keeps audiences coming back over and over again?

“It’s about family,” Turner said. “Knowing your family, accepting your family and actually for the most part enjoying them. Again, it’s the family show and relationships, and even though relationships might get strained, we still need them.”