New parody musical MAMMA MIMO! or Musical That Goes Wrong by the Broadway Moscow theatre company

On/Off the mark!

In the new – and very cozy – Maskа theatre at MDM, for the fourth month in a row the parody musical show MAMMA MIMO! has been running with great success. Although the word “mimo” in Russian means “off the mark”, the musical itself is absolutely on the mark! It’s just a reference to the well-known Broadway and West End musical Mamma Mia! based on ABBA songs. And for less sophisticated theatre lovers, we’ll just say: if you are looking for a fun way to spend an evening, then the energy of the artists and the music band, funny jokes and the uplifting plot won’t be off the mark, but will get right into your heart! Why? Well, there are several reasons. First of all, it’s…

… musical material

In MAMMA MIMO! or Musical That Goes Wrong there are songs no less great than those of ABBA. Does the name Adele sound familiar to you? and Britney – the one and only – Spears? and Freddie Mercury? or Elton John? We’re not going to reveal all the cards, but the songs of these and other legendary singers in MAMMA MIMO! are performed in an unexpected parody manner, so, we’re sorry, but you won’t be able to sing along. Nevertheless, sincere laughter is guaranteed! Moreover, all hits are sung by excellent vocalists accompanied by a band of first-class musicians, who are full-fledged characters of the story. By the way, ABBA songs are also included in MAMMA MIMO! because of the…

… plot

To put it briefly and without major spoilers: imagine a small theatre at the provincial cultural center. Its director dreams of creating a large-scale performance, and, finally, fate gives him a long-awaited gift: he gets a solid budget to direct a real musical – world-famous Mamma Mia! Creative crew enthusiastically gets down to business, however, on the day of the premiere, everything goes wrong. Nobody knows what will happen when the curtain rises!

The author of this crazy and funny story is the famous playwright Sergey Plotov who also wrote such wonderful musicals as Everything About Cinderella, The Testament of Charles Adams, or the House of the Seven Hanged, The Blue Blue Bird and many others.Inviting Plotov to work on MAMMA MIMO! is an absolute success, because no one will deny how important it is to assemble a good…

… team

And the team of MAMMA MIMO! or Musical That Goes Wrong is outstanding! Founder of the Broadway Moscow theatre company Dmitry Bogachev needs no special introductions – it was he who showed the Russian audience the legendary world musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Cats, Beauty and the Beast, and, in fact, Mamma Mia! By the way, Anna Shevchuk, who is the stage director of MAMMA MIMO! or Musical That Goes Wrong, worked on Mamma Mia! as well. The stage designer for the production is Maxim Obrezkov, who has created hundreds of performances, including Dmitry Bogachev’s phenomenal musical Fear Nothing, I’m With You at the MDM Theatre. Obrezkov was able to weave references to the original sets of Mamma Mia! into the design of the show, which will undoubtedly delight fans of the ABBA musical. The stage designer worked closely with еру lighting designer Alexander Sivaev, on whose account the musical Fear Nothing, I’m With You and many other theatrical masterpieces. The choreographer of MAMMA MIMO! or Musical That Goes Wrong is Irina Kashuba – her track record includes the Bolshoi Theatre, the Moscow Art Theatre, the Theatre of Nations and many others, as well as the legendary musicals such as Chicago, The Little Mermaid, Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Evita and, of course, Fear Nothing, I’m With You.

As for the cast, there are both musical theatre stars (Yulia Churakova, Pavel Levkin, Yulia Iva, Alexander Matrosov, Alexander Babik) and artists who are just starting their journey in musicals. The mix of the experience of the renowned servants of Melpomene and the enthusiasm of the young ones gives a truly explosive effect – their energy makes you want to sing, dance, and shout, like at a pop show. But the most important thing is that the MAMMA MIMO! or Musical That Goes Wrong gives…

… hope

Or, to be more precise, the confidence that everything will certainly go well. The main thing is not to despair and not to sit idly by, no matter what happens!