PERFECT pop, charming cheese and first-class fun, this is one sensational show. I defy you not to be on your feet for the finale of Mamma Mia.

When the pre-show announcement warns those of a nervous disposition that there will be white lycra and platform boots, you know you’re in for a riot. And the show that became a global sensation more than delivers.

Set to ABBA’s timeless songs, the hit film starring Meryl Streep is well known. But Mamma Mia started life as a stage show 17 years ago in the West End and is, only now, finally going on tour around the UK, stopping in Southampton for a few weeks.

A riot of colour with terrific performances from start to finish, it was well worth waiting for.

Single mother Donna (the utterly brilliant Sara Poyzer) is reluctantly organising the wedding of her daughter Sophie (beautifully voiced Lucy May Barker) at the hotel they own on an idyllic Greek island.

Her two lifelong friends and fellow members of Donna and the Dynamos – straight-talking Rosie (hysterical Jacqueline Braun) and serial gold-digger Tanya (perfectly poised Emma Clifford) arrive for moral support.

But Donna soon encounters unexpected guests, in the form of three past lovers.

In a quest to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, Sophie has brought back three men from her past to the Greek paradise. Over a magical wedding weekend, old romances are rekindled and new love blossoms.

The trio of possible fathers, Richard Standing as Sam Carmichael, Tim Walton as Harry Bright and Christopher Hollis as Bill Austin, enjoy chemistry just as good as that of the girls.

The supporting cast keep the tempo high throughout this knockout show with highlights the stag and hen scenes, complete with trademark flippers, set to the sounds of Lay All Your Love On Me, SOS and Super Trouper.

With so many 70s belters to get through in one tongue in cheek corker of a show, other picks include an acrobatic beachside version of Does Your Mother Know, Take A Chance On Me in a deserted church and Donna’s triumphant solo of The Winner Takes It All.

It all builds to a glorious crescendo when The Dynamos and special guests retake the stage in their luminous lycra to belt out Dancing Queen and Waterloo, joined by thousands of ecstatic audience members.

The sunniest of all shows containing some of the finest pop songs ever written. Mamma Mia! How could I resist you?

Mamma Mia runs until Saturday October 8. Tickets: 023 8071 1811 or mayflower.org.uk