Take 1 mother, 3 possible fathers, 1 bride-to-be, and a Greek island, and “Mamma Mia!” There you go again!

It’s been some 25 years since Mamma Mia! made its debut at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre. The show, basically an excuse to hear 22 songs made famous by the Swedish group ABBA, has been popular ever since, filling theatres around the world  and finally being filmed in 2008. Now, again at the Winter Garden, Mamma Mia!, with a book by Catherine Johnson and songs by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (with additional contributions from Stig Anderson), is here, directed by Phyllida Lloyd with choreography by Anthony Van Laast.

The plot, for those of you who have missed earlier stage productions or the movie, is simple. Three months before her wedding, Sophie (Amy Weaver) dreams of having her father walk her down the aisle. The problem is her hotel-owning mother Donna (Christine Sherrill) has told her nothing about her father, including his name.

Sophie looks through her mother’s old journals and finds three likely candidates: Sam Carmichael (Victor Wallace), Bill Austin (Jim Newman), and Harry Bright (Rob Marnell). Sophie invites all three to her wedding, confident that she will know which is her father at first sight.

On the eve of the wedding, the members of Donna’s former rock band arrive at Donna’s Greek island hostelry to give her their support:  thrice-married, elegant Tanya (Jalynn Steele) and raunchy Rosie (Carly Sakolove). At the same time, all three prospective fathers arrive, each wondering why they were invited, and each surprised to see Donna there. Donna quickly learns of Sophie’s scheme, which comes crashing down around her when she feels no special connection to any of them. To make things worse, each of the three men, when they learn why they were invited, are convinced they are the father and volunteer to be the one to take Sophie down the aisle.

Sophie’s husband-to-be, Sky (Grant Reynolds), when he finds out about Sophie’s plot, is upset that she invaded Donna’s privacy and invited the men to the wedding without telling him. He now has doubts about marrying Sophie and leaves her in despair.

As stated before, Mamma Mia! is an excuse to play as many ABBA songs as can be fit into a two and a half hour musical and leave room for the scanty story. All the well-known tunes are there. “Chiquitita” and “Dancing Queen” are Tanya and Rosie’s back-to-back attempts to lift Donna’s spirits. “Does Your Mother Know?” becomes a raucous number for Tanya, Sky and his groomsmen, and her latest one-night-stand, Pepper (Justin Sudderth), one of Donna’s employees. “I Have a Dream” enables Sophie to both begin and end the show, contrasting her childish dream of having a father to give her away with her more mature outlook on life. Rosie sets her romantic sights on Bill with “Take a Chance on Me,” pursuing him around the church prior to the ceremony. Donna vents her bitterness about why she and Sam broke up, sabotaging any reconciliation with “Money, Money, Money” and “The Winner Takes It All”. “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” provides the backdrop to the predictable happy ending for all. You’ll also find “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “Lay All Your Love on Me,” S.O.S.,” “Super Trouper,”, “Thank You for the Music,” and “The Name of the Game” among other ABBA tunes. Oh, yes, and “Fernando” is there too — see where you can spot it!

Director Lloyd keeps things moving at a brisk pace. She deftly juggles the story arcs so that the audience is kept busy keeping up with what’s unfolding. It isn’t until you’re leaving the theatre that you realize all the “drama” going on is the result of Donna and Sophie. The two characters share some traits: they are both stubbornly convinced that their path is the right — no, the only — sensible one. But their choices are based on incomplete knowledge, and they are convinced the consequences are never of their own making. They both are in rebellion against their mothers: Donna’s kept pushing her to settle down, get married, and have kids, abandoning her free-spirited nature, while Sophie’s is nudging, even up to the wedding day, for her to live solo, abandoning dreams of love, commitment, and family. It makes it difficult to feel much empathy for either of them, and one ends up wondering just how truly happy their happy endings are.

The cast, however, is a delight — talented and funny, yet poignant when the story requires it. Choreographer Van Laast has come up with dynamic movements for the 12 principal performers and the 14-member ensemble that make you want to move to the rhythm, either dancing in your seat or in the aisles. Mark Thompson’s production design, lit by Howard Harrison, creates the special beauty of the Greek isles. Will Van Dyke leads the orchestra through its paces, their energy matching that of those onstage.

Based on audience reactions, Mamma Mia! Will be a tough ticket to get, even though its home at the Winter Garden is one of the larger capacity theatres on Broadway. While I’m a sucker for a catchy, nostalgic song, I found myself disappointed with having to watch two characters I found dislikeable — through no fault of the actors portraying them. However, if you are an ABBA fan, or if you’re looking for a family-friendly show, I can recommend going to the Winter Garden to catch a performance of Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! is presented at the Winter Garden Theatre, 1634 Broadway in New York, through Feb. 1, 2026. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to mammamiabroadway.com.