Super Mom, aka Donna (Carol Linnea Johnson, center) finds time to revive her ABBA tribute band with friends Tanya (Vicki Van Tassel, left) and Rosie (Robin Baxter) while hosting her daughter's wedding in "Mamma Mia!" at Mandalay Bay.

"It's a male-free zone at Sophie's party," declares a character in "Mamma Mia!" The same is basically true of the entire female-bonding musical that's found a good home on the Las Vegas Strip, a place more famous for exploiting women than for catering to them.

What better for a gals' night out than a plot that combines romance, a wedding and a best-friends reunion, all in a Greek-isle setting populated by attractive, sometimes shirtless guys?

Well, how about this? What if one character said, "You sound just like your mother"?

And the other replied in a fierce, cornered-animal type of growl: "I do not!"

Combine all that with the '70s pop of ABBA -- which itself has become a kind of mother-daughter thing since the 1970s -- and you have a musical that's grossed $1.6 billion and been seen by 27 million people worldwide.

"Mamma Mia!" celebrated its fourth year at Mandalay Bay last week, even as producers came clean with plans to close near the end of 2008. Quality control shouldn't be an issue between now and then: The current cast is stronger in some roles than the one that opened the show.

This far down the line, you also can appreciate how well the musical is crafted -- calculated, you might even say -- to hold up to repeat viewings.

Eight years after its debut, the concept still resonates with dual appeal to the Late '90s Soccer Mom: the image of the strong working woman, fused with the escapist fantasy of running away to a magical island. The dreamy aquamarine set and lighting, even the costuming, all help elevate the plot from the standard sitcom fluff at its roots.

And seeing it in Las Vegas now is, well, kind of relaxing. "Mamma Mia!" opened before current productions of "Phantom -- The Las Vegas Spectacular" and "The Producers," and outlasted a short-tenured "Hairspray." Of the lot, "Mamma" is the only one to play in full, two-act form with an intermission.

Seeing it after those "tab" editions is to be struck by how much of the charm stems from the pace in which the story is allowed to unfold and introduce the characters. By the time of the climactic wedding, you feel like you're part of the event. And the sentimental finale probably wouldn't carry as much impact if the hugs and goodbye kisses weren't allowed to play out in real time.

Still, the show's biggest strength is its ability -- so far unmatched by any other "jukebox musical" -- to repurpose the ABBA songs into show tunes that, as often not, move the story along instead of interrupting it.

Based on information found in her single mother's diary, Sophie (Kelly Anise Daniells) uses her wedding as an opportunity to invite the three men who might be her father.

This comes as quite a surprise to mother Donna (Carol Linnea Johnson), who already is cracking from wedding pressure and clearly has unresolved issues with one of the dads, Sam (Rick Negron). And it's obvious he never got over Donna, even though he married another.

Johnson does steely and stressed so well she knocks "Winner Takes It All" out of the park as an 11th-hour song. Other tunes such as "Knowing Me, Knowing You" are enlisted for dramatic use more eloquently than much of the dialogue, which is the show's Achilles heel. Try not to cringe as Johnson and the ultra-perky Daniells clump through the mother-daughter stuff.

Lighter tunes such as "Dancing Queen" give comedic character to Donna's best friends and former singing-group colleagues. Vicki Van Tassel throws a lusty gusto into "Does Your Mother Know" as the glamour-gal, oft-married friend. For the most part, you have to smile at how easily the dialogue slips into opening musical lines such as, "Chiquitita, tell me what's wrong."

The only ABBA hit that couldn't fit into the show is "Waterloo," and if all this is your kind of party, you won't mind the 10-minute singalong encore that tosses it in anyway. "Monty Python's Spamalot" soon will be vying for the attention of the menfolk on the Strip, but this island will be a refuge for the ladies until the pastel, aquamarine lights finally go out.