Here's what I could find from various other audience discussions about the new cast:



And here's the relevant bits of another review:

And there's another review here:

http://primi-divi.blog.co.uk/2009/06/28 ... a-6409570/

Most of it's a sort of rant about the plot (and I agree, although I've only seen the movie) so I'll just quote the bit about Niamh:



I'm imagining Niamh playing brattish and it's quite amusing

That would be funny
Thanks gingerbread

I'm looking forward to seeing it even more now! :lol: Thanks Ginger!

aww

Can't wait to see Niamh in this today! (well not so much the 'in this' part, but anyway)

She'll be amazing and it will be really exciting to see how much she's improved! It's been almost exactly a year since I saw her in a full show Yay! I don't need to tell you to expect a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong review

Here's just some other stuff about her in the role that I found:

These are audience reviews that I found while lurking *ahem* places... the first 2 are from earlier in her run:




Isn't that last one great?

And here's a very small article:

http://www.theirishworld.com/article.asp?SubSection_Id=10&Article_Id=10853

Okay, I’m back from seeing it and here’s the long and rambling review that I promised!

First of all I just have to comment on her bio in the programme, which was longer than quite a few other performers’! It did make me feel a bit nostalgic just because the last bio of hers I saw (Only The Brave) was so tiny and contained nothing but training. I guess all the small things she did really add up, go her! I noticed that the mention of I’d Do Anything has been moved to the top of the bio as well, maybe she was asked to do that to catch more notice? Also there’s no mention in it that this is her West End debut, which is kind of sad because she won’t be able to say that again, but oh well.

Sorry for that rambling… I’ll get to the show, which is what you actually care about (or if you’re like me then you only really care about Niamh in this… that’s what this review will be anyway – I’d decided beforehand that if she wasn’t on that night I would try to sell my ticket to some randomer and go another time). Mamma Mia really isn't a show that I would ever have seen unless there was a particular performer in it that I wanted to see, and I’m sure I was in the minority of the audience as someone who didn’t recognise half the songs in there. It’s kind of ironic, considering that the show really is just a vehicle for the well known songs, seeing as I’m far more likely to recognise musical theatre songs in a show with original music but never mind . What did surprise me is that I enjoyed it more than We Will Rock You, which is fun and everything but is really just a vehicle for the songs that hinges on nothing but the music, while this at least as a sort-of plot that hinges on characters, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, the show began with a reeeeeeaaaaaally loud medley of songs from the show (most of which I didn’t recognise) although I think it was probably just particularly loud from where I was sitting because I was right at the edge, although really close to the stage, so that was good! Actually looking back on it, I would say that further back is probably better to see the whole spectacle, but whatever I was there for the performer(s).

Niamh’s character opens the show, which made me very very happy! So anyway the curtain came up, and there she was, looking older and more tanned and a little less frail-teenagery than last year, but don’t worry because she's still the same wonderful performer and her singing voice still has that beautiful amazing sparkly tone, only it’s stronger now! I think throughout the show you could really tell that she’s improved her vocal stamina and overall her voice sounds stronger and richer and more capable than ever! Yay!

She had sooo much to do during the show, and that was fantastic in itself since in Only The Brave she didn’t have that many songs and she had even less scenes… to be fair she was a smaller part in that out of many principles and all of them had no more than 75 minutes to share. But this is a much longer, much bigger show and she’s one of the leads! I know I’m saying that a lot but it just makes me so happy! So as I was saying she seemed to be onstage for at least half the show and was constantly acting, singing and dancing (so much dancing for her to do! That one little dance number in Only The Brave was very good but she’s a pro at it now) and she did it all wonderfully!

The thing that surprised me most about this was actually her acting! It was great before, but what shocked me was how differently she played it to Belle in Only The Brave. I’ve seen very good experienced West End actors play multiple roles in different shows very well and believably, but also very similarly to each other. It’s not hard to play two different roles both perfectly, but with the same gestures/stance/characterisations. But she has completely given Sophie her own character that is nothing like what little I know of Niamh herself and it's the complete opposite of Belle, her character in Only the Brave. All the characterisation and mannerisms was completely different. To give you an example, Belle was very soft, sweet, gentle and vulnerable and her body language was all quite small and soft. In contrast, her Sophie is extremely upbeat, extremely bubbly and she played it very wild and fast-paced and all her movements were jagged and more tense, while I swear she’s brought out a totally different set of facial expressions for this part, all consistent throughout the show for the character but totally not what I’d seen her do before. I wouldn’t have been able to picture her doing what she did a year ago from just watching I’d Do Anything and the OTB. And I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this yet, but her accent as well is so un-niamh! In Only The Brave she was French, and in this she’s English. But not the typical fake posh accent you typically hear from actors who don’t have the accent (sorry Jessie Buckly but I found her accent hard to believe), Niamh’s in this sounded natural and regional and hardly slipped ever. I completely understand what those other reviews were saying when they said Niamh played it very brattish and edgy, and it completely worked for the role and was wonderful to watch, especially because in this role I think it would have been easy to still be very sweet and mild. But as you’ve probably understood by now, she completely wasn’t.

Another obvious difference between this and Only the Brave was that OTB was all dramatic and she spent her time singing ballads, which she does beautifully and I always thought that her type was dramatic roles and ballads because she does them so well, but this was all upbeat and fast and comedy of the kind I’d hardly seen Niamh do any of but she pulled it off flawlessly and it’s great to see she can do both so well!

I have to go now and wow I didn’t think I would be saying this much, but I’m sure I’ll come up with more another time and I haven’t finished telling you everything yet. Sorry. This really is more of my rambling than anyone needs though so I’ll leave it. But basically you’ve probably worked out that I thought she was amazing and I’m so glad I saw it if only because of her! I won’t be able to say any more for a few days (coincidentally it’s because I’m going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – thanks goes completely to Niamh because I’m only going because I loved it so much last year and I doubt I’d have gone last year if not for Niamh. Go her!)

Eeee it sounds AMAZING, Ginger! Thanks for this! I look forward to the rest of it xD I can't wait to go (even more than before) now. Mamma Mia made ALW eat his words - so much for landing a role at 20 - she's only 19! GO NIAMH! WOOOO

It sounds great gingerbread! Glad you had a good time!

wow great review ginger! sounds amazing!!

:(

Great write up Zippy! Sounds like she's great. But then again, we knew that. GO NIAMH! Happy to know she plays a big part. I'm very excited. Can't wait! Looking forward to hearing her sing something other than ballads.

I've not been on here for ages, been busy and also embarrassed by the amount of time it's taken me to see Mamma Mia!
I finally got to go on Monday (after checking Niamh was back from holiday). First I should say that this isn’t a show that I’d have gone to normally, as though I think Abba are OK (I’ve got ‘Gold’ so I know some of the songs) I’m not really into their music and the story didn’t sound that exciting. On the plus side it was good fun, well-acted and there is a plot even if it’s quite cheesy and little scenes get introduced just to fit the songs.

Niamh is first on (she is there when the curtain opens) with ‘I Have a Dream,’ which she starts in a soft and almost hesitant voice, deliberate as she sings it in the same way at the end of the show. She plays Sophie as fairly upbeat and slightly edgy, but always likeable – very believable and just right in my view. I agree with Ginger that she’s quite different in this to what we’ve seen of her as a singer (I didn’t get to Only the Brave unfortunately) but I’ve always thought she has a more feisty side than she normally lets on, and we get to see some of that here. By the way I think her new hairstyle without the fringe lets her appear more expressive which is good as she has quite a range of emotions to convey. What else… she sings ‘Name of the Game’ to one of her ‘dads’ and is just brilliant, both her voice which goes without saying and the way she acts it. Otherwise I’d like to have seen her do more solos, but I suppose they can’t just change the script because Niamh Perry has joined the cast!

I won’t ramble on, but will just say that while Mamma Mia wasn’t that compelling in my opinion, Niamh definitely was! And great to see her making such a good job of a role, and style of music, that I’d not have expected her to go for.

Thanks Stan. Nice to see you back here. Always nice to hear of Niamh fans getting to see her. It'll be my chance soon. Well, still 6 weeks away! I can't wait. I'm looking forward to seeing the more feisty Niamh. Sounds HOT! Pleased to know she's in it for quite a bit. Though i know i'll be sitting there at times being like "where's Niamh?!?! Where... Wh... Where... WHERE'S NIAMH?!?!?! "

Hello Stan It sounds really good!

Great to hear from you Stan!

I completely agree with what you said - show not so brilliant, but Niamh amazing! Although I don't understand how you think that that was 'rambling on' after my post above I'm willing to read as much reviewing as there is about Niamh!

Hope you'll enjoy it Ben! I'm looking forward to hear what you think - pages and pages of it hopefully

Hello Ben, Amy, Ginger


Sorry Ginger, I really enjoyed your review! I just meant I was starting to write disconnected snippets of information well here are some more.

Niamh looked different to the early photos I'd seen of her in Mamma Mia, she has her dark eyeliner back and her hair was parted in the middle with no hint of a fringe - something like she was in the IDA audition video. Very stunning and somehow more classically Irish IMO. Strangely enough I didn't notice her English accent until about halfway through, it was so natural. BTW, she seems to have a costume change every scene.

I saw the alternate Donna, Melissa Jacques, and while she was very bubbly and dynamic I didn't think the mother-daughter thing was as convincing as Ginger said it was with Sally Ann Triplett. Not enough to be noticeable, just that there was no special rapport there. In fact I enjoyed Niamh's scenes with her 'dads' more, particularly Norman Bowman & Christopher Hollis, as that's where her edginess came out more.

Ben, you won't have a lot of waiting for Niamh, though there are some scenes she doesn't appear in. It's just that I would have liked to hear her do some more solos. Hope you enjoy seeing her as much as I did - I think you will be completely in love with her by the end! Let us know what you think.

If I remember anything else I'll come back & post!

Thanks for letting us know more about the performance!

It's true about how much she's in the show. More than so many leads in other shows. I think it is just because the character itself has less significance than it could, and I definitely want to see Niamh in a more emotional, dramatic role. And the no solo thing was a shame, but really she has a ton of stage time and completely made the most of all that she had! Intresting about the darker make up, I didn't notice any when I went

Thanks Stan. I'm already completely in love with her, so i think my head will explode when she appears on stage. I'm sure i'll have to wipe away a tear at least. I'm actually not joking. *ahem*

Thanks Zippy. I'm sure i'll love it! Especially Niamh. I'll write as much as i possibly can for you. You know me Zippy, once i start typing, i can't stop! We're getting the train to and from Luton so we're driving there on the Friday morning (October 30th). Spend the afternoon in London and then getting the tube to the football late afternoon/early evening (come on Leicester!). Saturday we're probably going to go to the Natural History Museum before seeing Niamh at night. And then getting a late train to Luton and driving home. That's the plan!

I understand completely Ben! She's :hearts: and (I can't think of anything better than the French expression) tres formidable.

Just spotted this on the Mamma Mia site - another Niamh fan obviously

This isn't exactly news but this article has a picture!

http://www.mamma-mia.com/readnews.asp?id=253mm&sec=news#




Edited to fix link. It looks like it's just a special performance, nothing on TV

Pudsey bear!!!

You've messed up the link i think Zippy.

Lovely picture anyway. And does this mean she'll be on Children In Need? When is that? I've got no idea what's going on, where am i?

I was sat ready and waiting, about 30 minutes before it was due to start. I felt incredibly nervous. I always feel nervous when I see a musical. A lot more than when I go to a heavy rock concert or a big rowdy football match. I don’t know why, but I do. Maybe because it’s something I’ve not done many times. And today, I was even more nervous than usual. I looked at my watch; I only had another half an hour to wait, until I’d be watching Niamh. Unbelievable.

“Do you know if there are any stars in the snow?” I was asked. After a brief explanation of the fact that Niamh was in the show, and with an unenthusiastic response of “oh”, I realised that people weren’t there to see Niamh at all. They were there to see Mamma Mia. I wasn’t. I’m here to see Niamh, thank you very much. I then wondered how many people knew she was the in the show, or even if they knew of her at all. I looked at everyone mumbling around trying to find their seats and I felt very proud. I’m Niamh’s biggest fan in this room, I thought. I had no idea if that really was the case, but that’s how I felt. And it felt great. Come on Niamh; show this lot how amazing you are!

I looked at my watch. 7:30. Any moment now... And then it started. The lights dropped, the stage was revealed and Niamh was sitting there. Niamh! I then swallowed and knew everyone must have heard it, as a loud “gulp!” thundered around the theatre. There was Niamh, sitting before me. She looked beautiful. Then she started to sing. It was at that moment I suddenly had something in my eye. Whatever it was, it was quite big because it made my eyes water. She started very softly, and she sounded lovely. That thing in my eye was still causing it to water a little bit.

“DOT DOT DOT!!!” She was sooo funny! I’d never seen Niamh like it before, she was hilarious. Not only does she look a lot different to how she looked a year ago (even from those pictures from a few months ago) we see a totally different side to her. Especially at the start, she’s very frisky! She showed us quite a lot of her leg, which was very nice indeed, thank you Niamh. I think it took about an hour for her to put anything on her feet too! lol She’s very cute without socks on. She has lovely feet. Yes, I know I’m weird. Niamh really is my perfect girl. That dude that gets to kiss her about 60 times every week is the luckiest guy on earth. Unbelievable. At least he gets his nipples twisted every night too, which goes some way to making up for it.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much time she has on stage. She’s definitely the main person in the show, I think. Or maybe I’m not the best one to judge on that. I mean, even when I wasn’t supposed to be looking at her, if she was still visible on stage, I was watching Niamh. I felt like a stalker at times because when the lights were focused on other people, I would still be looking at Niamh. I watched as she put her shoes on. She did the left shoe first, and then she did the right. I wasn’t supposed to be watching, but I was... Hey, I’m not going to be able to see her again anytime soon, I’m going to watch her at every moment possible, thank you!

I actually enjoyed the show far more than I thought I would. I’ve never seen the film, so I wasn’t really sure of the plot (I’m guessing the film has a similar plot) but I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun, and the songs seemed to work very well. I’m not going to listen to Abba every day and I’m not going to put Abba on my iPod but they did write some great pop songs, and it made for a really fun, bouncy show. What also made it great was that I knew the songs too. There were only about 3 I didn’t know. I enjoyed the show a lot more than the last I saw in London, which was Joseph. The plot was better, the songs were better and it was a lot funnier. Even without our Niamh, I think I would have enjoyed Mamma Mia. Though whenever Niamh came back onto the stage, it was very exciting to see her.

She sounds even more amazing than I expected. Amazing! Her voice glides around the room and it all seems so effortless. I’m no expert on singing, but I love hearing Niamh sing. She looks really well too, not the shy, skinny girl we saw on I’d Do Anything. She looks fantastic, and she acts the whole thing really well. That was nice to see, her acting. We’ve seen her sing a lot, but very rarely have we seen her act. She did really great. She was serious when it needed to be serious, and hilarious too in the funny moments. Right at the very end, when her and her boy walk off into the distance on the raised platform, I had something in my eye again and it made them water a little bit. ... ... Yes, I had something in my eye, stop staring at me!

I love the bit after the show, when they just rock out. lol All the dancing and singing with the volume cranked up to 11, it’s awesome! Obviously again I spent my whole time watching Niamh and I’m happy to say she’s having the time of her life. You could tell she was still “living the dream”. She was going “WOOO!” and everything! Her dancing was great, very cool. I can see why she’s not the skinny little thing she used to be any more. It’s not an easy show, there’s a lot of dancing and jumping around. She must be very fit to do a show like that.

After all that, she left the stage and I didn’t see her again. 20 minutes later, I’d made 2 tube trips and was sitting on the train to come home. I would have loved to have met her and one day I will definitely do so. None of us know what she’ll be doing next but hopefully she’ll be in another show in London next year and I’ll see her again, only this time, I’ll make sure I go very early on in her run so I can see her again a few months later. I would love to be able to see her in Mamma Mia again, but I’m afraid it’s too late now really. But like I say, next time I’ll try to see her at least twice. And meet her too.

Niamh, you’re amazing, and beautiful, and perfect. Good luck with everything you do, and I’m sure you’ll continue to show the world how amazing you are.

That's a great review Ben! It must have taken ages to write all that up!
The watching her put on shoes thing was very cute
Glad you enjoyed it so much!