Key Points
Back in 1999, the all female team behind musical Mamma Mia!, based on songs by Swedish pop group ABBA, had no idea how successful their kitchen sink show would be.When youre a producer, you just hope everything will work..
So to be here 25 years (on) is a big milestone, producer Judy Craymer said, a few days before the musical celebrates its landmark run in Londons West End.The drama of a mother and daughter with three possible dads has been seen in over 450 cities around the world, and led to two hit movies.The ABBA songs are the icing on the cake, but what weve done is we put the ABBA songs into context, Craymer said of the show, written by Catherine Johnson and directed by Phyllida Lloyd.We represent real people..
Its very kitchen sink, said actor Mazz Murray, who plays mum Donna in the production at Londons Novello Theatre..
Reflecting on securing the use of the music, Craymer said that when she started suggesting to ABBA stars Benny Andersson and Bjrn Ulvaeus in the 1980s that a musical could be made from their songs theyd probably moved on to other things.I think they thought that ABBA had kind of gone away It wasnt till later in the nineties when things began to blossom, we began to move forward.What.
I love is that over the 25 years we have succeeded in bringing the show to new generations, bringing theatre to new generations, but also ABBA to new generations.Coincidentally, celebrates 25 years on April 6, ABBA are also marking 50 years since the release of their 1974 song Waterloo, which brought them to global attention...
