Longrunners Extend: Mamma Mia, Stomp & BlackDate: 6 October 2004
Three longrunners – musicals Mamma Mia! and Stomp and thriller The Woman in Black - have announced extensions to their West End booking periods.
Blockbuster Abba musical Mamma Mia! has added six months to its booking period at the newly refurbished Prince of Wales theatre (See News, 14 May 2004), where it moved to in May after five years at the Prince Edward and where it’s now booking up 25 September 2005.
Set on a Greek island, Mamma Mia! centres on a young woman who, preparing for her wedding day, has invited three of her mother's former lovers in an attempt to discover the identity of her father. The musical's original book, by Catherine Johnson, is interspersed with Abba disco classics such as "Dancing Queen", "Thank You for the Music", "Take a Chance on Me" and the title song. The production is directed by Phyllida Lloyd and designed by Mark Thompson.
At the Vaudeville Theatre, dance extravaganza Stomp has added a further three months to its schedule and is now taking bookings up to 24 April 2005. The show, which originated in Brighton in 1991, has toured all over the world but only started its first West End run at the Vaudeville Theatre in September 2002.
Stomp transforms the junk and clutter of urban life into a source of rhythm and dance. In 100 minutes of pure theatricality, a cast of eight performers use boots, bins, garbage, zippo lighters, plumbers' plungers and everything including the kitchen sink to hammer out a symphony.
And finally, at the Fortune Theatre, Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation of Susan Hill's ghost story The Woman in Black, which marked its 15th birthday last year, had added a further four months to its booking period, taking it up to 30 April 2005.
Originally produced at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre in December 1987, The Woman in Black has been seen by over two million theatregoers since opening in London in 1989. Directed ever since its opening by Robin Herford, the two-hander currently features Brian Miller and William Rycroft.
- by Terri Paddock
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