‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’

A friendly mash note to ABBA, those beloved spandex songbirds of Sweden, “Mamma Mia!” will hit most folks either as predominantly exuberant or predominantly dippy. Or, I suppose, as exuberantly dippy. Yes, let’s go with that one.

Now at the Shubert Theatre, the musical delivers 22 ABBA tunes, wrapped in a story and a guileless worldview serving one idea and one only. To paraphrase a lyric in “Dancing Queen,” one of the cheeriest pop tunes of the 1970s: With a bit of ABBA, everything is fine. Everything works out with ABBA around. Your destiny’s secure. Life--as Toni Collette said in the Australian film “Muriel’s Wedding”--can be “as good as an ABBA song.”

For those who plan to see “Mamma Mia!” for the story, not the songs: Single mother Donna Sheridan (Louise Pitre, a superb Toronto export) runs a taverna on a tiny mythical Greek island. There she has raised her daughter Sophie (Tina Maddigan, refreshingly free of pretense), now 21.

Sophie’s getting married to a Wall Street dropout named, unfortunately for audience empathy purposes, Sky (Adam Brazier). Sneaking a look at Mom’s diary, Sophie realizes what her mother was up to the summer she was conceived.

She has, in fact, three possible dads: Australian travel writer Bill (David Mucci), fubsy middle-class Harry (Lee MacDougall) and Donna’s great love, Sam (Gary P. Lynch). Letters to all three, written by Sophie in the guise of her mother, bring the men to the island. Who’s the pop?

That’s one question. The more pressing questions of “Where’s the pop? And the disco? And the ballads?” can be answered by: Everywhere! Everyone on this isle gets his or her fair share of songs written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Other guests include Donna’s old girl-group pals Tanya (Mary Ellen Mahoney) and Rosie (Gabrielle Jones). And if you think their girl-group past is merely a thing of the past, well, you haven’t been to very many musicals lately.

Not for nothing is the “Mamma Mia!” logo, depicting a joyous bride, so similar to the “Muriel’s Wedding” poster image: The latter introduced ABBA worship to a new generation. “Mamma Mia!” is doing likewise. The 1999 London smash, still going strong, has spun off a production in Toronto as well as a North American tour.

The somewhat Americanized touring edition (dialect-wise), bright and full-bodied, made oodles of money, money, money in San Francisco and has relocated to L.A. until early May. In October it arrives in New York and the Winter Garden Theatre. Previously the Winter Garden was home to “Cats,” to name one bubble-headed pop diversion less fun than this one.

Librettist Catherine Johnson essentially had before her a structural engineering task. How to make the ABBA hits fit the tale? Some of the interpolations are ingenious. Others are merely ingenuous, particularly in the less-engaging and more discursive Act 2.

The whole thing’s dopey as heck, but the appeal of the best songs is undeniable (as if you needed me to point that out). “Dancing Queen,” “Money, Money, Money,” “S.O.S.”--the memories! Where, oh, where are the Farrah-haired girls of my youth--the ones in the cowl-neck sweaters and the clogs? Are they still bopping around to “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”?

Director Phyllida Lloyd knows how to push for the big nostalgia wows. But she’s also responsible for this retro party’s amiable, tossed-off quality, its moments of sweetness (wisely, the introduction and coda take it easy on us). Martin Koch’s musical supervision--the nine-piece band has a ball--adheres to the sound of the originals with strict respect.

Pitre’s Donna keeps the whole, occasionally overbearing affair on track. This silver-haired chanteuse’s bio includes a Toronto credit for “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris”; here, on the Brel-tinged ABBA soul-barer “The Winner Takes It All,” Pitre makes the audience hers and hers alone. She and Maddigan make a fine mother-daughter team. The men, overall, fare less well. Lynch’s Sam appears modeled on Dudley Do-Right.

Issues of casting and narrative aren’t going to matter much with most people. They’ll go for “Take a Chance on Me,” for “Dancing Queen”--for the world according to ABBA. “Mamma Mia!” may lag in its second act (at least before that super-duper encore). It lacks a distinctive look; designer Mark Thompson’s spare depictions of the tavern and the beach are short on medium-budget magic. A lot of the comedy is pushy and obvious, though it helps having pros such as Jones and Mahoney around.

All this is unlikely to prevent the show from dominating its particular niche market--the known universe--for a few years.

* “Mamma Mia!” Shubert Theatre, 2020 Ave. of the Stars, Century City. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends May 12. $40-$70. (800) 447-7400 or https://www.telecharge.com. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Mamma Mia

Tina Maddigan: Sophie Sheridan

Nicole Fraser: Ali

Miku Graham: Lisa

Mary Ellen Mahoney: Tanya

Gabrielle Jones: Rosie

Louise Pitre: Donna Sheridan

Adam Brazier: Sky

Sal Scozzari: Pepper

Nicolas Dromard: Eddie

Lee MacDougall: Harry Bright

David Mucci: Bill Austin

Gary P. Lynch: Sam Carmichael

Howard Kaye: Father Alexandrios

Music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Some songs written with Stig Anderson. Book by Catherine Johnson. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Choreographed by Anthony Van Laast. Scenic and costume design by Mark Thompson. Lighting by Howard Harrison. Sound by Andrew Bruce and Bobby Aitken. Musical supervisor, additional material and arrangements by Martin Koch. Production stage manager Tom Capps.