Mamma Mia, what fun! ABBA's music carries this sit-com over rough spots

On paper, the story of a woman trying to learn her father's identity while clashing with her strong-willed mother sounds like a piece of serious drama.But set the story to the songs of ABBA, and what results is the bubbly froth that is theater sensation Mamma Mia! The show, a long-running success in London and New York, stopped Tuesday at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre for a six-day run. It's an encore of sorts, having played Orlando successfully in 2004.The who's-my-daddy story is played for laughs, a campy, lighter-than-air tale. And how could it be anything else, when everyone keeps breaking into those catchy ABBA numbers?"Dancing Queen," "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "Voulez-Vous" swirl together in a pastiche of nostalgia and fun that the performers grab hold of and run with.Laurie Wells especially shines as she finds all the pride, anger and resentment in Donna Sheridan, who gave up her dreams as lead singer in a girl group to raise her daughter as a single mom.In her defining moment, the classic "The Winner Takes It All," Wells demonstrated the inherent drama that made ABBA's songs so enduring. "I don't want to talk," she spat, rather than sang, the song's opening lyric, at former lover Sam (Sean Allan Krill). By song's end her heartbreak was palpable, albeit in over-the-top musical-theater style.The melodramatic theatrics are part of the appeal of the show. Everything is performed in a wink-wink "We know this is stagey, darling" kind of way.And if the performers didn't always have the voices to stay true to ABBA's melodies -- the women ducking out of notes in the lower register, the men straining at times to hit the high notes -- they had the chutzpah to give their stock characters a lot of heart.Among those character stereotypes are an effete Englishman; a bawdy, plump woman; a brittle, oversexed and overmarried divorcee; a rugged Australian adventurer. Despite some less-than-authentic accents, the actors inhabited their roles convincingly.The heart of the show, however, is in Donna's relationship with her daughter Sophie (Carrie Manolakos); a touching rendition of "Slipping Through My Fingers," as Donna realizes her little girl is all grown up, is the play's most moving moment.Not all the songs fit the story line as neatly, though. Some, such as "Super Trouper" don't advance the plot at all and are presented solely to be heard -- "Hey! Let's sing one of our old hits at Sophie's bachelorette party!"It can be amusing to figure out how hard the writers worked to make the songs fit within the framework of the story. The reason for a throwaway line from Harry (Ian Simpson) about meeting Donna in Paris becomes clear when they sing "Our Last Summer" with its references to the Eiffel Tower and the River Seine.And ultimately the music is what the show is all about."It's the total package, the singing, the dancing," raved one twentysomething audience member at intermission."I haven't enjoyed a musical so much in a long time," said another patron, a gentleman in his golden years.And with everyone from 8 to 80 smiling along at all the peppy, familiar tunes, there's no time to worry about that second-rate wacky-sitcom story line. Who cares about plot when you're having this much delicious fun?