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By Dana Casadei

As the lights dimmed in The Fisher Theatre, the audience was “warned” that there would be platform boots and white spandex featured in the evening’s production of “Mamma Mia!” Side note: There’s also an insane amount of glitter. But beyond the glitz and glam of the ’70s (well, maybe glam is the wrong word), “Mamma Mia!” is a show that’s got a heart of gold, and more humor than expected.

With book by Catherine Johnson, and music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, with some songs by Stig Anderson, the two-and-a-half-hour show will have you tapping your foot to the beat as soon as Sophie (Chelsea Williams, whose voice soars effortlessly over the theater) begins to sing.

Phyllida Lloyd’s direction and Anthony Van Laast’s choreography play the comedy huge in this show, adding so much humor to a plot that sounds like it belongs on a daytime soap.

Young, soon-to-be-wed Sophie Sheridan has decided to invite all three of her potential fathers to her wedding. “I want a perfect wedding,” she says to her two best friends at the beginning of the show. For Sophie, the “perfect” wedding means being able to have her father there, a man she’s never known. Her mother, Donna (Georgia Kate Haege), has raised Sophie alone in Greece at the hotel she owns. While Sophie has invited a few guests of her own, Donna has her own BFFs coming to make sure she can keep it together as her only daughter takes the plunge into marriage. Over 24 hours a wedding is finalized, new love blossoms and old love is rekindled.

“Mamma Mia” and “Dancing Queen” are the songs that most people in the audience will recognize, and they’re decent, but “The Winner Takes It All” is the real showstopper. It’s not flashy, it’s not full of extravagant costumes or dance sequences. But man, does Haege bring down the house. It’s second in back-to-back ballads for Haege, with the sweet “Slipping Through My Fingers” being the lead in to the much more aggressive “The Winner Takes It All.” This is one of those moments that you sit in anticipation for during a musical.

Donna’s BFFs are no slouches, either. Gabrielle Mirabella’s Tanya and Carly Sakolove’s Rosie steal every scene they’re in, and when they harmonize together you never want it to stop. “Chiquitita” is the first time viewers get the treat. Both women have comedic chops to match their powerhouse vocals, which are shown throughout, whether it is when they sing as a duo, with Donna filling out their trio, or on their own. Mirabella’s “Does Your Mother Know” and Sakolove’s “Take A Chance On Me” are where both women get to shine on their own and show off their character’s distinctive personalities.

The show is full of trios, including Sophie’s three “dads.” Each of the men, Harry (Mark A. Harmon), Bill (Michael Colavolpe) and Sam (Don Winsor), are completely different, and no two actors play their characters with any similarities. The characters could come off as slightly cartoonish when in the wrong hands; thankfully that doesn’t happen here.

Production designer Mark Thompson, combined with Howard Harrison’s lighting design, makes you feel like you’re on the islands of Greece. The hotel’s structure is simple enough to not take away from all the action happening around it, and at times in it. As a whole, the outside of the building looks like one from all those idyllic photos of Greece you’ve seen over the years. Once opened up it becomes the setting for the hotel’s bar, and in Act II the wedding. All that’s needed is a few chairs and tables, and a sunset.

The one big issue with the show, though, is that there are many times when the music is so loud you can’t hear the vocals, no matter how much gusto they sing with. At the end of Act I, the group says something to Sophie, and I had absolutely no idea what it was; neither did my neighbors.

In the end, though, the standing ovation at the close of the night doesn’t lie. This is a solid production of one of Broadway’s top selling musicals.

Also, make sure to stay through the curtain call. It becomes a mini-ABBA concert, with the entire cast rocking out to a few classics.