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align=center><FONT face=Georgia><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>Seven
times a charm at Great Lakes Theater’s </SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>‘<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Mamma Mia!’ </B></SPAN></FONT></P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 12pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"
align=center><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
face=Georgia>Member, American Theatre Critics Association</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN> </P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia>While the moral at the end of the jukebox musical “Mamma Mia!” is
that true love comes but once in a lifetime, the show itself apparently comes
with much greater frequency.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN></B> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia>A national tour of <SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Benny
Andersson</SPAN> and <SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Björn Ulvaeus’
</SPAN>global smash hit has visited <SPAN style="COLOR: ">Playhouse
Square</SPAN> in 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2016.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And, in the spirit of full disclosure,
I’ve not been a fan of any of them. Not a fan of the Swedish band Abba, whose
pop songs make up the show’s score.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Not a fan of kitschy jukebox musicals.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia>The show’s sit-com storyline is a paper-thin vehicle to string
together over 20 of Abba’s highly synthesized ‘70’s disco tunes, which often
erupt in highly caffeinated fashion and with little provocation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia>But here’s the thing:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It all works in this Great Lakes Theater staging.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Remarkably so.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'>For
more of this article, go to </SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>