The great success, which reaped the musical “Мamma mia”, was the reason the tickets for the last four performances for this year to be sold out a month earlier. This way for the jubilee 25th edition of the bravura production of the Sofia Opera and Ballet the hall was again full to the utmost limit and the audience, often raised on their feet, was chiming in enthusiastically to the singers, measuring with powerful applauses the hit performances of the distinguished soloists.
The stage director of the production Maestro Plamen Kartaloff more than successfully turned ABBA’s wonderful songs into a theatre of situations and scenes, in which the audience spontaneously takes part in the action. The dynamical action and the exquisitely realized emotional reflexions of the performers for the next time in succession provoked the spectators to witness the story of the charming characters. During the past 25 performances the soloists achieved a real perfection in the interpretation of the entrusted to them conquering personages and they with their talent made richer the characters of these unforgettable personages, lent them unparalleled emotionality, turning them into live and fascinating contemporaries of ours.
With each spectacle of the musical with the desired consistency and precision was improved the sound of the electronic instruments, a perfect synchronicity was reached between the technical teams and as end result the spectators were given the present of the magic of the genial compositions of the celebrated АBBА.
Like at all past spectacles, after the final of the performances on 15 and 16 December, the audience with enthusiastic applauses was as if it didn’t want to leave the hall. On 15 December the wild enraptured exclamations were addressed to Vesela Delcheva, Lucy Kozareva, Vladi Mihaylov, Niki Sotirov, Nikolay Pavlov, Yanitsa Maslinkova, Denitsa Shopova and Radoslav Vladimirov, and on 16 December poured with applauses were again Vesela Delcheva, Edelina Kaneva, Kiril Ivanov, Aleksandar Georgiev, Nikolay Pavlov, Yanitsa Maslinkova, Denitsa Shopova and Radoslav Vladimirov, as well as all other performers.
The audience cordially paid the deserved respect for this enormous success also to the conductor Svetoslav Lazarov, to the wonderful band, to the set designer Nela Stoyanova, the costume designer Hristiana Mihaleva and to the choreography of Riolina Topalova.
In this report we cannot miss to emphasize the precise sound, realized by JOKER MEDIA RENTAL and the music director Zhorzh Dimitrov.
After both spectacles we managed to interview some of the enthusiastically disposed spectators, who shared their sincere opinion for what they saw and heard:
The Nikolovi family: - A terrific spectacle! Even our little daughter liked it very much! We didn’t expect such a final, at which as if in an encore your splendid artists exploded the hall with their performances! Thank you for the indescribable experience!
Miglena Ivanova from Tutrakan: - I am still dazzled by the spectacle! I came without expectation for what I was to see. It’s wonderful that the performance is quite different from the well-known movie! You excel it in each aspect!
Nadezhda Nikolova: - I am glad that the genial ABBA were so magically recreated at the Sofia Opera! I don’t know, if someone else except for Academician Kartaloff would develop such a vision, such artistic solutions and emotional culminations! I am congratulating you and I wish you always to give us as present your unique art!
The Vasilevi family: - One remains amazed by the seen and the heard in this spectacle! You have achieved a perfect vision, harmonic sound and this conquering acting and vocal performances of your exceptional artists!
The Dimitrovi family: - A wonderful performance! We were delighted with the youthful spirit, with the cheerful mood! All this is very charging with energy! The thrill is indescribable!
A group of young people: - Thank you for the pleasure, which we experienced! We came here because of some of the soloists, who we know! All of them were at the necessary height and enchanted us with their talent! You see, now we are not like going away from this temple of the great Bulgarian art!
Yana Georgieva: - Wonderful! Everything was at such a height – the set design, the music and these great artists. We have no words! And all this was realized in Bulgaria!
Vera Deneva: - An exceptional spectacle! I even started crying several times!
Rumyana Siderova from Shumen: - A wonderful production! Delightful! The unique performances of the artists, the music arrangement, the choreography, everything amazed us with the invested energy and imagination!
Stefka Stoyanova: - We are delighted with the next production of Maestro Kartaloff! As we expected, he completely in his own way surprised us with this unique reading of the well-known musical! We are moved by the wonderful music making, the inventive performances of the artists, by the conquering choreography and set design! Please accept our admiration before the great art of the Sofia Opera and Ballet!
Vanya from New York and Georgi from Boston. Vanya 24 years was living in the USA and in July she has returned to Bulgaria. Georgi is a student in Management and information systems in Boston and lives in the USA already for the ninth year.
Vanya: - I have seen “МAMMA MIA!” on Broadway. Their production is louder and with attacking sound. Your production is so moving, I started crying! In one moment, all were as if entering into the action and the experiences of the characters. Now I am seeing the sights of Bulgaria. I already see another standard and the people are very positive. Your art is above all!
Georgi: - This performance gradually conquered me. As of the end, I was dazed and my hands became weak from applauses! The final exploded the hall and the people standing next to me! I am happy that this enthusiasm I can feel in Sofia, in your amazing theatre! So, how not to love Bulgaria?!