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NOTTINGHAM THEATRE ROYAL – REVIEW

This article was originally published on October 14th, 2026.

The UK & International tour of Mamma Mia! had been residing in Nottingham since September 29, where it will remain until October 10, 2026.

The tour itself has been going on for some time as it started in 2019, but had fresh faces each year with few having experience in other productions of the show. The 2026-27 cast for the tour have just had their debuts, with most of the cast replaced whilst a couple stayed behind to continue touring.

I was fortunate enough to book a few shows whilst it stopped in Nottingham, and I ended up finding myself having a 4-show week, alongside some… other incidents along the way. I mean, I don’t particularly enjoy witnessing a huge blaze upon leaving the venue or having to take an uber back because a tram collided with someone, or something.

But, you know what? I’d do it all again for this show.

Regardless of a few complications along the way, I think this tour is pretty solid! As with any production, there were a couple flaws, but absolutely did not impact how I felt watching the show. I’ve seen the show once on the West End with the 2024-25 cast, and even though it was once, I heavily enjoyed the production, especially with Mazz Murray (EastEnders,We Will Rock You West End) in the cast as Donna — who also previously played Tanya in the production.

Now, regarding the 4-show week: Was it tiring? Absolutely. But it was fun.

I’m currently down with the plague as I write this (shout out to the person who sneezed on my face and continuously coughed next to me at my final show), but I’d do it all again. I haven’t had this much joy since seeing Here & Now twice, Mamma Mia! is a show that is incredibly uplifting in general, and I do find that musicals do lose their magic over time — but this show hasn’t.

With excellent actors in this cast, it’s a production you don’t want to miss.

My shows were on Sep 30th, Oct 5th, 7th, and finally 8th — all were evening performances. Usually I go matinée’s to avoid going on trams at night, but there were few and mostly targeted towards people who have low vision, or are blind due to that it’d be audio described live, which made me skip those performances for the people who needed that kind of accessibility.

I had full principal for my September show, Ashleigh Jones on for Donna for Oct 5th, and Gee Gillam as Ali for both 7th and 8th performances. I’d say I got the best of both worlds.

The current 2026-27 cast of the UK & International tour consists of returning actors, with Jenn Griffin as Donna Sheridan, accompanied by Ashleigh Jones alternating the role and being second cover Rosie; and Sarah Earnshaw (Wicked West End) as Tanya. Fresh faces include Hazel Baldwin (Cats International Tour) as Sophie, Lauren Woolf (Here & Now UK and Ireland Tour, I Should Be So Lucky! UK Tour) as Rosie, Simon Victor as Bill Austin, Richard Taylor Woods (Grease West End, Waitress West End) as Sam Carmichael, Arvid Larsen (Jesus Christ Superstar UK and European Tour, The Phantom of the Opera Middle East/Europe Tour) as Harry Bright, Samuel Downey as Sky, Ashton Sharp as Pepper, Albert Green (Here & Now UK and Ireland Tour) as Eddie, Richard Vorster as Father Alexander (Singin’ in the Rain International Tour).

The ensemble cast includes Brook Blackford-Jenkins, Rubi-mai Brown, James Brice, Aled Davies, Ryan Ebbrell, Gee Gillam, Marisa Harris, Jay Jobareth, Bethany Rose Lythgoe, Sullivan Martin, Sarah McFarlane, Rachel Oates, Megan Speirs, Adam Stickler, Luke Stone, and Maisy Wignall.

The 2026-27 cast announcement was in June 2026, and debuted in mid-August later that year.

I was lucky enough to see a couple of covers during my time in Nottingham, notably Ashleigh in the role of Donna once, and Gee in the role of Ali twice (who both were fantastic!) Jenn and Ashleigh both portray our leading lady Donna differently; I feel Jenn’s is more stressy and moody, whilst Ashleigh is more anxious and shy, whilst retaining her motherly warmth towards Sophie.

Now, our Sophie… I think Baldwin is the weakest in the cast, unfortunately.

My impression of Baldwin’s Sophie is that she tends to only portray one emotion in the role, which is anger. Sophie, in my opinion, should be a girl who’s hopelessly in love with her fiancée, Sky, and has an innocent demeanor that causes her to make foolish mistakes — a girl who should be able to experience other emotions such as happy, sad, anxious, and all that good stuff. But Baldwin only keeps to one emotion, and that is unfortunate as I do think that she does have talent, but wastes it by doing exactly that. I found her Sophie more annoying than anything, which is a real shame.

Another thing is that I think Baldwin’s singing is a tad mature for someone as young as Sophie, but makes up for it by sounding pure at least. As for Downey, I feel that his acting as Sky isn’t the greatest, he’s quite boring unfortunately, but he’s better than Baldwin for sure. That’s not to say that Baldwin is a terrible actress, but she is definitely better in her other roles. She’s just not the right Sophie, personally.

Despite their issues, there’s definitely chemistry between Baldwin and Downey — which is a good thing.

However, it doesn’t get rid of the awkwardness I felt with them both for “Lay All Your Love On Me”, which is something I’m disappointed by because it’s a scene where I usually debate whether I want to be the one dragging Sky, or be the one being dragged by Sophie — and I never felt that with them.

As for Sophie’s friends, Ali (Seirian) and Lisa (Richardson) — they did a very good job in their roles. I didn’t get to see them much throughout the show as they’re usually in the ensemble, apart from major scenes such as “Honey, Honey”, alongside “Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie (A Man After Midnight)” and “Voulez-Vous”. I got to see Gillam as Ali twice, the first time was her second show after debuting at the matinée on Oct 7th, and I think both ladies were just as grand as each other.

Onto our other leading lady: I personally prefer Jones’ portrayal of Donna instead of Griffin’s.

Both women are fanstastic in the role, and they both portray Donna differently. I have mentioned that Griffin’s take made Donna seem to always be stressed, moody, and clearly has taken the hardships of being a single mother. Jones’ portrayal made Donna be an incredibly anxious woman who spends her time worrying about pretty much everything, and seemed to be more laidback and shy — which is an unique version of Donna I had never seen until then.

I’m not a mum, and I don’t ever want to be, but I saw myself a little in Jones’ Donna.

Both actresses are extremely talented in both acting and singing. Griffin is definitely more shouty, belty and has immense strength to go through the absolute hardest numbers as Donna, particularly for the famous ending of “The Winner Takes It All” that takes place in the second act — respect to anyone who can even do that eight times a week. Jones maintains a more gentle and sweet type of voice, perfect for melancholy versions of all Donna’s numbers.

One thing I noticed with Jones’ performance is that she tends to go down the route of her Donna struggling with her mental health even before all her exes arrived on the island. It’s evident that the past still affects her, whilst most actresses tend to lean towards Donna repressing her feelings by hiding behind sarcasm and toughness, but Jones doesn’t do that. Jones has a very unusual take on Donna, which is something I love.

Difference: Griffin shows that Donna is a very strong lady who has gone through extreme struggles in her life — her acting shows how much she’s gone through with every single snarky line she says as she lets out belts stemmed from rage. Jones, on the other hand, is calmer, but visibly struggles with her self-worth and confidence, whilst retaining her motherly figure towards people she loves.

Unfortunately, at one of my evening performances at Notts, Griffin and Baldwin were both vocally exhausted — which made them both less likeable that night, but doing eight shows a week is already enough to make any actor knackered by the end of it. I do think that their respective covers should’ve went on that night in order to let them both rest — not that I’ve been wanting to see Sarah and Ashleigh as the mother-daughter duo, of course…

I do feel it was a bit weird watching the show without Murray in the role of Donna as I only saw the show once on the West End prior to this production, and I initially didn’t like Griffin’s portrayal at first, but she grew on me as I reflected by first show at the venue. I do still think that Jones’ performance stands out to me the most, but Griffin is just as amazing.

Onto the other characters — whoever decided to hire Woolf as Rosie, I’d like to give them a big fat kiss.

It’s no surprise that I became a fan of Woolf after seeing her twice in the Here & Now tour from 2025-26. I first booked tickets the night before the announcement for the 2026-27 tour cast came, and ended up screaming in excitement upon seeing her landing the role of Rosie in my other favourite show — I genuinely couldn’t have planned that, it was practically fate.

Woolf is an incredible Rosie, absolutely hilarious and full of silliness. She’s such a joy to watch, and every night I found myself stimming in excitement every time she was onstage, and couldn’t help but let out a loud cackle — no matter what she said or did. At my final round of this show, the audience began clapping to the beat during one of Rosie’s iconic numbers, “Take A Chance On Me”, which made Woolf continuously laugh whilst chasing Bill (played by Victor).

Woolf tends to make scenes longer than they should be due to how airheaded her Rosie is, which makes it much more hilarious to watch.

Her Rosie is extra funnier with her partner in crime, Tanya (played by Earnshaw), and were an unstoppable duo whenever they were seen together. Their renedition of “Chiquitita” is absolutely perfect with their dialogue in between verses, and they work with whoever plays Donna at the time, including all three in “Dancing Queen” and “Super Trouper”.

Earnshaw took Tanya and created her own remarkable portrayal of the character, who is certainly upper class; even without Rosie accompanying her, she still manages to take over the stage with her charisma and charm. Something I found amusing was the height difference between her and Pepper (played by Sharp) in “Does Your Mother Know” — minor detail, but it takes Tanya’s “I’m old enough to be your mother” to the next level. Earnshaw belts out an amazing opt up near the end of the number, which is majorly impressive.

Earnshaw, Griffin, and Woolf all blend perfectly together, especially with how similar their comedic acting choices are.

As for the boys, I think they’re amazing.

I don’t particularly care for Bill, Harry, and Sam — I plan to write a blog about my personal flaws for Mamma Mia! in the future, but I do think that Victor stood out to me the most out of the three. His chemistry with everyone is immaculate, and I certainly liked his take on the role. Who knew an anxious guy who fears to take a chance on love would fit with a very chaotic woman like Rosie?

As for Woods… I think his Sam is okay. Sam is meant to be pessimistic, but I felt Woods made him be a bit too pessimistic. It’s not unlikeable, of course, but I think he should’ve toned it down a tad. I’m not sure if this was Woods’ portrayal of Sam, but I found boredom with his renedition of “Knowing Me, Knowing You”, though it very well could be the song itself that I find boring. I’ll get more into this show’s flaws later down the line in another post.

​Larsen’s Harry is also excellent, I did find him a little boring sometimes with the way he acted, but it didn’t affect his performance majorly. I think after seeing a show four times in a week really takes a toll on you, whether that’s good or bad, but it made me realize how much I didn’t particularly find myself invested in the second act as much as the first, and makes you study the ins and outs of a character as you mentally drop notes down in your head. I’m pretty sure for my final round of Mamma Mia!, I found myself thinking about other things until the best parts came.

Now, do the boys have chemistry with the women they’re supposed to be with?

Kind of. I do believe still that Sam and Donna should have never wed within 24 hours after reuniting, but Griffin (including Jones) and Woods have a pretty solid relationship with each other. I’ve already mentioned that Victor and Woolf are incredible together, and even though I think that Donna, Rosie and Tanya should have stayed solo — I couldn’t help but find myself in awe with the way Victor and Woolf were smitten for each other. It made me like the idea of them being together, but that’s possibly from me having Woolf being my favourite in the cast alongside Jones.

I also noticed that Tanya and Harry don’t actually talk all that much in the show like I thought they did, so I can’t really comment on Earnshaw and Larsen’s chemistry. I do think they were nice together from the little interaction they had, however.

In conclusion: I think this production is extremely well done with very minor flaws, the only thing I’d change personally is the principal for Sophie, as I felt Baldwin suited her previous roles in other shows she’s been in. It’s still a very upbeat show that manages to lift your spirits every time, no matter what you’re feeling. Heck, I wanted to stop going after the second round, but I kept going because… it’s Mamma Mia!. I knew I’d feel better after seeing the show, which was my motivation to continue.

Extremely challenging to do a 4-show week for sure, but the show itself is a reward. This is a very stacked cast full of amazing actors, and I’m super excited to see it again if it comes back to Nottingham — whether I’ll go four or five times again is to be confirmed.

For my final round, I was able to do stagedoor after the show and met a few of the cast — specifically Earnshaw, Gillam, Griffin, Richardson, and Woolf. I did think about meeting Baldwin, but she was too occupied with everyone else that I didn’t want to bother her, so I left her alone. I did meet Woolf previously at stagedoor for my Oct 5th show, after a major complication with the tram via the Nottingham fire, I decided to stop by as I waited to be picked up. All of them were incredibly sweet and I’m so glad that I managed to meet at least just a few of them, especially my favourites.

I’d love to watch this production again, but I unfortunately cannot travel anywhere outside of the East Midlands by myself, and I certainly don’t want to bother for someone to come with me as I feel it would be unfair on them.

But at the end of it all, I had the time of my life at this show, and that’s what matters!

Mamma Mia! is currently playing at the Milton Keynes Theatre in Milton Keynes, running from October 13 to the 24th, 2026. Their final stops in the UK include Wolverhampton; Cardiff, Bradford; Liverpool, and Plymouth, before moving to Austria, Belguim, Germany, and Switzerland after January, 2027.