'Mamma Mia'
April 10, 2015
"Mamma Mia's" 14-year run makes it the eighth-longest running musical on Broadway. It will have been performed 5,765 times by the final show in New York's Broadhurst Theater on September 5, 2015.
On Thursday (09.05.2015) organizers announced the end of the "Mamma Mia" era, which grossed over $600 million.
The show premiered in London in 1999 before its New York debut in October 2001, just one month after the 9/11 terror attacks. Set on a Greek island, it tells the story of single-mom Donna and daughter Sophie, who plans to meet her birth father shortly before her wedding.
It was produced by Judy Craymer who saw the theatrical potential in ABBA's internationally popular songs. She approached the Swedish pop group in the 1980s with the idea of creating a musical that used their songsto tell a story unrelated to the band.
In 2008, Craymer produced a film version of the musical, with Hollywood star Meryl Streep in the lead role.
ABBA rose to international stardom in the 1970s, but broke up in the early 1980s. The musical has made their music accessible to the next generation and their catchy tunes are now more closely associated with the theater production than the band itself.
kbm/jgt (AP, dpa)