Mamma Mia! celebrated its 14th birthday in the West End this weekend, a celebration that the hit ABBA musical is likely to follow with a 15th next year as it has extended its booking period to 5 April 2014.
The show first brought the Swedish super group’s greatest hits to London in 1999, when it opened at the Prince Edward theatre. Since then, some of ABBA’s most famous songs, including Dancing Queen, Money Money Money, Thank You For The Music, Take A Chance On Me and SOS, have resonated around the auditoriums of both the Prince of Wales theatre and the Novello theatre, where it currently resides.
One of only five musicals to have played in both the West End and on Broadway for more than a decade, Mamma Mia! has now been seen by a staggering 10 per cent of the UK’s population and by more than 50 million people in 37 productions worldwide.
The current cast of the London production includes Helen Hobson, Joanna Monro, Kim Ismay, Gary Milner, Neil Roberts, James Gaddas, Charlotte Wakefield and Andreas Gyllander, and is directed by Phyllida Lloyd, whose next project will see her direct Olivier Award nominee Cush Jumbo in the actress’ debut play Josephine And I at the Bush theatre.