Mamma Mia booking to 16th Mar 02; Cast Changes Announced

Mamma Mia booking to 16th Mar 02; Cast Changes Announced

A new booking period for Mamma Mia! at the Prince Edward Theatre, covering 1st Oct 01 to 16th Mar 02, has now gone on sale.

A new company will also join the cast of Mamma Mia at the Prince Edward theatre from Monday 19th Mar 01. Louise Plowright will continue to star as the mother 'Donna', and newcomers Amanda Salmon and Raza Jaffrey will play the daughter 'Sophie' and her fiance 'Sky', both playing major roles in the West End for the first time. Louise Gold will continue to play 'Tanya' and Lesley Nicol 'Rosie', and Peter Forbes will join the cast to play 'Harry', Simon Slater 'Sam' and Rohan Tickell 'Bill'.

"MAMMA MIA!", the new musical based on the songs of ABBA, celebrates its second London birthday at the same time. The musical opened in London at the Prince Edward Theatre on 6th Apr 1999, following previews from 23rd March, to rave reviews and smash business.

The show continues to break all Box Office records at the Prince Edward Theatre, frequently taking in excess of 250,000 uk pounds a day. On Valentine's Day last year, the show set a new London box office record by selling 522,000 ukp worth of tickets in a single day. The show also recouped its 3 million ukp production costs in a record-breaking 27 weeks and has since grossed 42 million ukp and sold over one and a half million tickets. By the end of this year there will be five productions of "MAMMIA MIA!" playing worldwide.

The first North American production, at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre, has broken all previous Box Office records there. The US premiere was held on Friday 17th Nov 00 at San Francisco's 2000-seat Orpheum Theatre. The extended season, which marks the beginning of a major US tour, has also broken all previous Box Office records, setting an all-time record by grossing over 1 million US Dollars in a single week. The Australian premiere will be at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne on Sat 9th Jun 01, and the Broadway production will open at the Winter Garden Theatre on 18th Oct 01.

"MAMMIA MIA!" has music & lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorrn Ulvaeus, book by Catherine Johnson, and some songs by Stig Anderson. It is directed by Phyllida Lloyd, designed by Mark Thompson, lighting by Howard Harrison and choreography by Anthony Van Laast.