By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Sunday 1 November 2026 and runs through 24 January 2027 RUNTIME: 140 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

It’s hard to go wrong when your jukebox musical includes songs of the calibre of the titular Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen and The Winner Takes It All even if in Spanish when it’s only the viewer’s 2nd language.

• Read on for reasons including how this behemoth has now played in more than 60 countries across 6 continents

Much of the charm of ABBA’s best work is that it has the lyrical directness of Swedes Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus writing in their less familiar 2nd language of English.

This is our 3rd visit to the musical which we saw shortly after it opened in London at the Prince Edward Theatre in 1999 and more recently at its current home at the Novello Theatre where it is now the 5th longest running show in West End history.

ABBA were never a band to miss a trick to maximise their sales potential and we’re familiar with many of the Spanish versions of their hits here through the Spanish-language version of their greatest hits album called Gold but renamed Oro for the occasion.

Mamma Mia! El Musical as it’s titled here has now played in more than 60 countries across 6 continents.

The problem all jukebox musicals have is that their constituent hits have to be somehow shoehorned into the title’s chosen story and here it’s about a young woman called Sophie about to be married who wonders which of 3 men could be her father and resolves to find out by secretly inviting them to the wedding at the Greek taverna she runs with her tightlipped mother Donna.

Donna reunites with friends Tanya and Rosie – reforming their band Donna and The Dynamos for 1 night only – as potential fathers Sam, Bill and Harry arrive on the island unknown to Donna.

We’ve seen the film starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Christine Baranski (making her West End debut brilliantly now in Hay Fever, Wyndham’s Theatre) and Julie Walters (Becoming Victoria Wood) and the summer holiday vibe of a wedding abroad suits the banger-filled score.

Particularly good in this version is the comedy Take A Chance On Me as Noemí Gallego’s outgoing Rosie attempts to woo Joan Olivé’s dashing adventurer Bill in the church, the lustful pre-wedding frivolities of Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) and Ana Lagares’ emotional 11pm number The Winner Takes It All as Donna faces up to her fate.

Her relationship with daughter Sophie played by the cute Lucía Pemán is fun and there’s even a comedy moment for Mireia Portas’ impossibly sexy Tanya to rebuff a would-be younger romeo during Does Your Mother Know.

The songs aren’t built to advance the plot as they are in the best musicals but when they’re as insanely, almost childishly, as catchy as these it’s impossible to resist even if in Barcelona your command of Spanish is as limited but enthusiastic as ours.

• Main pictures by via Facebook courtesy Mamma Mia! El Musical Tickets
• Have you seen an Abba show before and what did you think of it? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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