![Mamma Mia! at 25, Waterloo at 50: A big weekend for ABBA fans, Mamma Mia! anniversary photos released, New booking period opens [Updated]](https://www.westendtheatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mamma-Mia-25-Years-centre-Catherine-Johnson-Judy-Craymer-Bjorn-Ulvaeus-with-cast-onstage-at-Novello-Theatre.-Photo-by-Piers-Allardyce.jpg "Mamma Mia! at 25, Waterloo at 50: A big weekend for ABBA fans, Mamma Mia! anniversary photos released, New booking period opens [Updated]")
Smash-hit West End musical Mamma Mia! celebrated its 25th birthday on Saturday in London.
Mamma Mia! has sold over $5.685 billion in ticket sales since it exploded on to the stage of the Prince Edward Theatre in London on 6 April 1999.
The long-running West End show then moved to the Prince of Wales Theatre in June 2004, also owned by Cameron Mackintosh’s Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, before moving to its current home, Mackintosh’s Novello Theatre in September 2012.
On Saturday 6 April a specially invited audience of 500 watched the show at the Novello Theatre, celebrating this Mamma Mia! milestone with current and past casts, followed by a party at the Palm Court of the Waldorf Hilton Hotel next door.
The cast of the show were joined on stage by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Judy Craymer, the creator and producer of Mamma Mia!
Also present were the writer of the show, Catherine Johnson, and Mamma Mia! choreographer Anthony van Laast, plus past cast members including Siobhan McCarthy, the original Donna, and Lisa Stokke, the original Sophie.
Other invited guests included Zoe Ball and daughter Nelly, Issy van Randwyck, Anneka Rice, and Jemma Redgrave.
The London production of Mamma Mia! currently stars Mazz Murray as Donna, and with Stevie Doc as Sophie and Tobias Turley as Sky (to 5 October 2024).
The cast also includes Kate Graham as Tanya, Nicola-Dawn Brook as Rosie, with Natalie Langston playing Donna at certain performances, Christopher Dickins as Harry, Stephen Beckett as Bill, Haydn Oakley as Sam, Jessie Odeleye as Ali, Olivia Brookes as Lisa, Chay Wills as Eddie and Arcangelo Ciulla as Pepper.
To celebrate the anniversary, the production has also now extended its run at the Novello Theatre, and is booking to 29 March 2025.
Photos: Mamma Mia! 25th birthday celebrations
It was a big weekend for ABBA fans, as Saturday also marks the 50th anniversary since ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest at the Brighton Dome with their hit song Waterloo. BBC Two broadcasted documentary When Abba Came to Britain, which was a joyous celebration of ABBA, and featured unreleased clips from Agnetha, Anni-Frid, Benny and Björn.
Mamma Mia! is now London’s fourth longest-running musical ever, only beaten by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, Schönberg and Boublil musical Les Miserables, both of which are produced by Cameron Mackintosh, and Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers.
Earlier this year a TV talent contest on ITV1 – Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream – set out to cast the lead roles of Sky and Sophie in the show. The TV contest has given the show a box-office boost, and Stevie Doc and Tobias Turley were crowned the winners of the contest, and are now starring in the show.
The musical has also been turned into two blockbuster movies, with Mamma Mia! The Movie, and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again proving to be global smash-hits at the movie box-office. Producer Judy Craymer told Baz Bamigboye in Deadline that Barbie director Greta Gerwig is top of her list to direct the third Mamma Mia! movie, which would once again star Meryl Streep. “Hey, Greta, if you’re free to do anymore projects…” joked Craymer to Baz.
Mamma Mia! is directed by Phyllida Lloyd and written by Catherine Johnson. The show is designed by Mark Thompson and choreographed by Anthony Van Laast, with lighting designer Howard Harrison, sound designers Bobby Aitken, musical supervisor Martin Koch and casting director David Grindrod. The executive producer and general manager is Philip Effemey.
If all this isn’t enough ABBA, ABBA Voyage, the high-tech virtual reality concert featuring ABBA as avatars, is still packing in audiences at ABBA Arena in London.
Mamma Mia! is booking at the Novello Theatre to 29 March 2025.
Book tickets to Mamma Mia! at the Novello Theatre London
UPDATES: First published 6 April 2024; Updated 8 April 2024 to include photos of the 25th anniversary celebrations; Updated 9 April 2024 with new booking period
Novello Theatre, London
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