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Mamma Mia! The First Ten Years
| Last night, the global smash hit musical Mamma Mia! turned ten. This remarkable landmark was celebrated by a glittering gala performance attended by producer Judy Craymer and Abba’s musical motor, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. Even ten years, the unchanged Mamma Mia! remains as slick and solid as it was written, becoming as timeless as the Abba songs the drive its plot. The show was as hilarious, moving and energetic as ever, and received a well deserved ovation, not only for the night, but in recognition for a sensational decade. “Ten bloody years!” as an astounded Judy Craymer put it during her post show speech. |
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| Mamma Mia! first opened at the Prince Edward Theatre in April 1999, itself marking exactly 25 years since Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo. Mamma Mia! marked the first time anyone other than the members of Abba and their session musicians had been given full access to the nuances and arrangements of Abba’s songs as they had been written. Not only were Benny and Björn heavily involved in the production, but the show also enjoyed substantial financial backing from Abba brunette Anni-Frid Lyngstad-Reuss, so Mamma Mia! was given the fans’ seal of approval from day one. A huge hit with London critics, within only two years there were five productions playing simultaneously worldwide. The London production transferred to the Prince of Wales in 2004. | |
| Ten years on, Mamma Mia! has seen 18 productions playing to 30 million people in 19 countries, grossing an astounding £2 billion in ticket sales. Last summer, the film adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan became the highest grossing film in the UK and the fastest selling DVD. Not even a year after its initial release, Mamma Mia! The Movie is the forty-second highest grossing film in history, and rising fast. | |
| So on 6 April 2009, those involved with the phenomenon of Mamma Mia! had a lot to celebrate. After the show, jubilations continued late into the night at Leicester Square’s Café de Paris, where cocktails and an impressive four-tier cake were enjoyed by Benny and Bjorn, as well as the cast and crew of the London production, press and invited guests, everyone drinking to a fantastic decade. | |
| In the words of Abba themselves, in another ten years’ time, who can say what we’ll find? | |
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