After first opening in 1999 at the 1650 seater Prince Edward Theatre, the hugely successful show Mamma Mia! the musical then encamped to the 1100 seater Prince of Wales theatre in 2004. Now the show in London has again moved to the 1105 seater Novello theatre in the Strand, the heart of London’s West End.
The Novello theatre was previously known as the Strand theatre and previous shows to have been performed here include the hugely popular Buddy the musical.
To celebrate the show’s remarkable success story there was a special one-off gala performance to raise money for the BBC’s Children in Need. Among the celebrity guests appearing were BBC Radio 2 presenters Vanessa Feltz, Anneka Rice and Penny Smith. BBC Children in Need’s Life President Sir Terry Wogan was also in attendance, along with a celebrity-packed audience to help celebrate Mamma Mia’s new London theatre.
The proceeds from ticket sales helped boost the money going to this year’s Children in Need appeal.
Continuing on in their support of the charity, Mamma Mia! will also be part of the BBC’s Children in Need appeal POP Goes The Musical, where celebrities will be singing some of ABBA’s famous songs from the musical.
The cast of Mamma Mia!
Based on the renowned hits by the world’s favourite Swedish pop band, Mamma Mia! is the ABBA musical and was written by Catherine Johnson. However, bandmembers Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, who composed the original music for ABBA’s tracks, were also involved in the development of the production from the very start, ahead of the opening of the show in London.
And did you know that the two same bandmembers actually appeared in the 2008 Mamma Mia! film? Blink though and you might miss them as Benny Andersson pops up as a piano player during the Dancing Queen segment, and Bjorn Ulvaeus can be seen fleetingly in the closing scenes as a Greek god.
An interesting fact is that despite ABBA’s huge worldwide success, they never had a top-10 album in the USA. The closest the group came was in 1978, when The Album reached No. 14, powered by the hits The Name of the Game and Take a Chance on Me. Compare that with the Mamma Mia! the soundtrack, which reached the number one in the U.S. on its’ release. Amazing but true!
Mamma Mia! isn’t the first time the music of ABBA has been turned into a musical. In 1983, ABBAcadabra opened in London, featuring ABBA songs with altered lyrics. Why you might ask? The story was based around school children being sent into cyberspace. It’s probably most notable for being the first show that Elaine Paige did after her triumph singing Memory in Cats at the New London theatre.
Elaine Paige’s other connection with ABBA is she starred in the musical Chess at the Prince Edward theatre in London. The musical was composed by Benny and Bjorn from ABBA along with Sir Tim Rice. The London show enjoyed a three-year run at the Prince Edward theatre and also starred Barbra Dickson. Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson dueted on the number one hit single from the show, ‘I Know Him So Well’
