‘Here we go again’ with feel-good musical fun of ‘Mamma Mia’ at the First Interstate Center for the Arts

“Mamma Mia!” covers a lot of ground in its two-and-a-half hour runtime.

There’s a mother-daughter relationship at centerstage, plus found family, reunions with old friends, self-discovery, women who aren’t afraid to speak up for themselves and reminiscing about who you were but also celebrating the person you’ve become.

It’s a lot of feel-good fun that’s amplified via a soundtrack which celebrates the music of Swedish pop phenomenon ABBA and features such classics as the title track, “Dancing Queen,” “Money, Money, Money,” “Super Trouper” and “Take a Chance on Me.”

ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus are credited with the music and lyrics, while Catherine Johnson wrote the musical’s book.

Florida-born performer Amy Weaver currently stars as Sophie Sheridan on the North American tour of “Mamma Mia!,” which opened in the West End in 1999. Weaver’s introduction to the music of “Mamma Mia!” wasn’t through ABBA records or the musical itself but rather through Swedish pop group A-Teens, a quartet of teen performers who put a youthful spin on ABBA classics on their debut album “The ABBA Generation.”

“I listened to that until the CD broke,” Weaver said. “I was obsessed with that. That was my introduction to ABBA. But of course, I feel like I was the target age when ‘Mamma Mia!,’ the movie, came out. I will forever love the movie. I love the second one. I’m ready for the third one.”

“Mamma Mia!” was adapted for film in 2008, followed by the sequel “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” in 2018. Producer Judy Craymer told Deadline that the third film is in development.

The musical and films are set on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi where Sophie Sheridan (Weaver) is planning her wedding to fiancé Sky (Grant Reynolds). Sophie wants her father to walk her down the aisle, but there’s just one problem: She doesn’t know who her father is.

She gets a few ideas of his identity after finding mother Donna’s (Christine Sherrill) diary and reading about dates with three men: American architect Sam Carmichael (Victor Wallace), Australian writer and adventurer Bill Austin (Jim Newman) and British banker Harry Bright (Rob Marnell). Without telling her mother, Sophie invites each man to her wedding. All three accept.

Meanwhile, Donna reunites with her long-time best friends Tanya (Jalynn Steele), a rich divorcée three times over and Rosie (Carly Sakolove), who is husband- and care-free.

Later that day, Sam, Bill and Harry arrive and meet Sophie, who asks them not to tell her mother that she invited them. But Donna soon sees her three former boyfriends and runs off, with Tanya and Rosie working to comfort her and convince her she can still be who just once was, not just a taverna owner.

Sophie talks to Sky about her confusion over her father’s identity, and he assures her that he will be the only man she needs in her life. The pair then head off to their respective bachelor and bachelorette parties.

Sam, Bill and Harry end up at Sophie’s bachelorette party and, over the course of the night, each agree to walk her down the aisle, leading Sophie to run out in confusion.

“Mamma Mia!” also stars Justin Sudderth, Ethan Van Slyke, Lena Owens, Haley Wright, Sarah Agrusa, Alessandra Antonelli, Caro Daye Attayek, Adia Olanethia Bell, Dean Cestari, Collin J. Bradley, Tony Clements, Emily Croft, Madison Deadman, Jordan De Leon, Nico DiPrimio, Patrick Dunn, Andy Garcia, Danny Lopez-Alicea, Makoa, Erica Mansfield, Faith Northcutt, Jasmine Overbaugh, Gray Phillips, Blake Price, Dorian Quinn, Lauren Soto, Xavi Soto Burgos and George Vickers V.

“Mamma Mia!” opens Tuesday and runs through June 22 at the First Interstate Center for the Arts.

Weaver grew up listening to Whitney Houston and Reba McEntire and singing all over the Tampa Bay area. She participated in theater in school, including a musical that ended up going to a state theater competition.

“The theater that we played when we finally played Tampa with ‘Mamma Mia!,’ I had performed there in high school, so it was a very full circle moment for me,” Weaver said.

Weaver joined the “Mamma Mia!” family in 2023 as a member of the ensemble and an understudy for Sophie. After the original performer playing Sophie moved on to other opportunities, the show’s team asked Weaver to step into the role full time.

When understudying the role, Weaver tried to stick close to what the lead performer did every night so as to not throw the rest of the cast and crew any curveballs. After she was asked to take over the role, Weaver had a few extra rehearsals with the director and choreographer to explore ways she could truly make Sophie her own.

“They were like, ‘OK, you did the understudy. You don’t have to anymore. She’s yours,’ ” Weaver said. “It allows me to bring more of myself to the role, which is a really good feeling, and take some time to stick with that and feel the new grooves of how it’s all going to work. But it’s been really, really fun to do.”

After the national tour concludes at the end of the month in Denver, the full touring cast will bring the musical to the Winter Garden Theatre, where “Mamma Mia!” premiered on Broadway in 2001.

The show played at the Winter Garden until October 2013 when it transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre. In total, “Mamma Mia!” played nearly 6,000 performances on Broadway before closing in September 2015 and became the ninth-longest running show in Broadway history.

The revival, which is scheduled to run through Feb. 1, marks the Broadway debut for 25 cast members, including Weaver.

Weaver said there were rumors for nearly the entirety of the North American tour that the show was being moved to Broadway, but most thought they were just that until those rumors started coming from higher-ups.

Even then, Weaver said she and the cast weren’t sure if the Broadway transfer would happen or if the company would take the full touring cast to Broadway.

Eventually, the show’s producer flew out to see the cast and announced that they would be going to Broadway. They also received emails from the show inviting them to the Broadway cast.

“I just immediately started crying,” Weaver said. “I had to have somebody else read it to tell me that it was real, because it was really unbelievable.”

Weaver is excited to make her Broadway debut, of course, but she’s also excited to keep telling the story that she said, combined with ABBA’s song, delivers joy.

“Everybody can always use more of that,” she said. “That is really what we’re doing here at ‘Mamma Mia!’ and it’s really special to be a part of and special to see that in the audience every night, the room is just full of joy.”

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}