My family and I went to Manhattan to see the Broadway play “Mamma Mia!"

This past Saturday my family and I went to Manhattan to see the Broadway play “Mamma Mia!”  Since my children are younger we decided to see a 2 pm matinee performance at the Winter Garden Theatre.  Instead of taking the subway or train into Manhattan my husband decided to drive.  Usually this would be an expensive proposition with the cost of parking and all.  However he was able to find some discount parking garages that were a few blocks away from the theatre.  That was great since we didn’t have to worry about any delays with public transport and we could leave whenever we wanted to. 

            We got to the parking garage around 1:15 pm and it took us another 15 minutes or so to leisurely walk down to the theatre which is conveniently located right on Broadway.  It is right near Times Square and it was bustling with excitement.  There were tons of people walking around doing the tourist thing.  Taking pictures, getting on open-air tour buses or just window-shopping. 

            We decided to pick up our tickets at the will call window and find our seats.  The theatre was small and very classy.  The design and appearance of the woodwork and paintings was very appealing to the eye.  The usher brought us to our seats that were six rows back from the stage in the center.  You couldn’t ask for better seats.  After taking turns going to the bathroom with the kids we took our seats to wait for the show.  At that point my husband noticed that the person sitting in front of our daughter would obstruct her view of the show.  After looking around we saw other people carrying what looked like seat cushions back towards their seats.  It turned out they were booster seats in the design of the soft plush theatre seats. 

            He grabbed one for our daughter and son as well.  This was great since it allowed them both to have an unobstructed view of the stage.  After about 5-10 minutes of waiting the lights went down in the theatre and the musicians began to play.  The performance of all of the actors and musicians was absolutely fabulous.  The acting, the musical numbers and story-line were simply amazing.  Everyone in our family had a fantastic time even though my 10-year-old son won’t admit to it.  Several times during the performance you could see a couple of young girls get up from their seats and start dancing in the aisles.  There was so much energy in that theatre it is difficult to describe. 

            After a brief intermission the show got right back into the groove.  There were many laughs to be had by the evident and sometimes hidden humor of the play.  The acting was fabulous and from being so close to the stage you felt like you were part of the story.  Towards the end as they were belting out the tunes of ABBA everyone one in the audience took to their feet to dance, clap, and sing along with the performers.  After it was all over and the lights came on I looked around and saw nothing but smiles on everyone’s faces.  Mamma Mia was an extraordinary play and I would highly recommend seeing it to all of my readers.

Disclosure: Thanks to US Family guide I received complimentary tickets to the Mamma Mia Broadway Play to facilitate my review. All opinions and writings are mine and mine alone.