Thank you for the music – the secrets behind Mamma Mia!’s 25 years in the West End
This week, Mamma Mia! celebrates 25 glittering years in the West End! That’s 9,883 tearful renditions of “The Winner Takes It All”, and you can work how many a-ha’s in “Voulez Vous”!
Even after a quarter century of performances, two box office hit movies and, more recently, a TV talent search show – the ABBA jukebox musical shows no signs of stopping. In fact, only late last year did the production celebrate its highest-ever grossing performance in the West End!
As well as the original creative team – which includes ABBA’s own Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, alongside producer Judy Craymer – it takes a village to ensure that the feel-good musical feels good for eight performances a week.
Some of the London production’s long-standing company include original cast member Leah-Sue Morland who is now the assistant choreographer, and Terry Johnson and Martin ‘Frosty’ Beedle who have been in the band since the first year.
There are 3,120 items of costume in the theatre at any one time – 121 of which are bras, and 24 different elements make up Donna’s Super Trouper costume. Speaking of, each of those iconic jumpsuits feature 33,000 hand-sewn rhinestones and the order of 400 metres of Lyrca used saved an Italian mill from closing down! Since the beginning, Ruth McCorkindale (costume and shoe supervisor) and Charlie Richards (wardrobe master) have both been responsible for looking after the costumes we see.
Additionally, Laura O’Day, who is now the general manager of the Novello Theatre, started in the ensemble and covering Sophie in year two. Philip Effemey, general manager of Mamma Mia! London, was initially the company manager and lest we forget Amanda Malpass, who has been with the show as a PR since its first performance.
Accompanied by Catherine Ashmore’s photographs of the original cast and some archive footage, we take a look back at just some of the history of the much-loved show about a bride-to-be’s search for her dad on a Greek island.
1999
23 March
Mamma Mia! plays to its first-ever paying audience at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End.
6 April
The show officially opens, marking its world premiere.
2000
23 May
Mamma Mia! goes international when it opens at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre!
17 November
The first US national tour opens in San Francisco and plays until August 2004.
2001
18 October
Mamma Mia! opens on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre.
9 June
Commences a tour of Australia before going on to play Auckland, Hong Kong and Singapore.
2002
3 November
The first foreign-language production opens in German at the Operettenhaus, Hamburg.
1 December
Mamma Mia! opens in Japanese at the Dentsu Shiki Theatre, Tokyo. It then plays in Osaka (2005-2007), Fukuoka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Shizuoka and Sendai.
2003
9 November
The Dutch-language production opens in Utrecht.
2004
25 January
In Seoul, the Korean-language production opens.
3 June
HRH The Prince of Wales attends Mamma Mia! in the West End to officially open the show after its transfer to the Prince of Wales Theatre – where it holds the record for the highest attendance in a single week.
9 September
The English-language International Tour premieres in Dublin.
11 November
A Spanish-language production opens in Madrid.
2005
12 February
Mamma Mia! opens in Swedish in ABBA’s home capital – Stockholm, Sweden.
2006
12 March
A Flemish-language production opens at Stadsschouwburg.
14 October
The Russian-language production of Mamma Mia! opens in Moscow – marking the first time that ABBA songs have been sung in Russian.
2008
30 June
Worldwide premiere of the Mamma Mia! movie takes place in London ahead of going global. Upon its release, it became the highest-grossing live action musical film of all time.
The movie soundtrack became the biggest album released by Universal that year. It was the UK’s biggest-selling soundtrack and reached number one on the Billboard charts achieving Platinum status after five weeks of release in the US.
2009
October
To celebrate the tenth anniversary, a new Australian touring production launches in Sydney.
2010
August
The South African tour premieres in Cape Town.
September
An Italian-language production opens in Milan.
October
A Danish-language production of the show opens in Copenhagen. Meanwhile in Paris, a French-language production opens, marking the first time that Mamma Mia! has played in the French language.
November
The Portuguese-language production of the show opens in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
2011
July
Mamma Mia! becomes the first, professional, Mandarin speaking production of a western musical in China.
2012
March
A production opens in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
6 September
Mamma Mia! moves to the Novello Theatre in London’s West End.
2013
Amazon reveals that Mamma Mia! was the UK’s best-selling DVD of all-time.
2 November
On Broadway, Mamma Mia! transfers to the Broadhurst Theatre.
2014
April
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus join the cast of Mamma Mia! in a musical finale at the Olivier Awards as part of the show’s 15th birthday celebrations.
October
Mamma Mia! sets sail and has its opening night on the Royal Caribbean International ship ‘Quantum of the Seas’.
2015
5 September
The show has its final performance on Broadway after 14 years.
2016
March
The first-ever UK tour kicks off in Bristol.
2018
Mamma Mia! is performed in Finnish for the first time.
16 July
London hosts the world premiere of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again ahead of a cinematic release across the globe – where it became the most successful live musical movie sequel of all time.
2019
6 April
Mamma Mia! celebrates 20 years in London’s West End.
2021
13 August
The show has its first open-air performance in the grounds of Harewood House in England.
25 August
Post-pandemic, Mamma Mia! re-opens in the West End.
2023
22 October
The eight-part TV series Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream is launched to find the West End’s next Sophie and Sky.
10 December
The final of MMIHAD! is broadcast live from the Novello Theatre and Stevie Doc and Tobias Turley are voted the winners.
29 December
Marked the production’s highest-ever grossing performance in the West End.
@whatsonstage Our last summer… was spent on set at @MAMMA MIA! I Have A Dream! ITV’s newest talent search show is looking for the next Sophie and Sky to star in MAMMA MIA! in the West End. #MammaMiaDream airs 22 October at 6pm on ITV1, ITVX and STV. ☀️
2024
29 January
The new Sophie and Sky have their first performance in the West End show after winning the competition.
February set a record for the highest-ever weekly gross in the theatre’s history.
6 April
Mamma Mia! celebrates 25 years in the West End.
To celebrate the anniversary, Stevie Doc and Tobias Turley joined us for a live chat on Instagram. Watch the stream here.
@whatsonstage Your daily dose of Mamma Mia! joy 💙 #MammaMia #MammaMiaDream #StevieDoc #TobiasTurley #MazzMurray
