Mamma Mia! celebrates 2500 performances and 6 years on the West End

Six fabulously successful years and 2,500 performances after it opened in London on April 6th 1999, the world's greatest hit musical MAMMA MIA! continues its record-shattering run.

Now entering a remarkable seventh year on the West End stage, MAMMA MIA! celebrates the occasion with its 2,500th performance today Thursday, March 31st.

Based on the enduring musical legacy of the 1970s Swedish supergroup ABBA, the show's international appeal has guaranteed it advance ticket sales like no other musical in history, allowing the producers, Judy Craymer, Richard East and Björn Ulvaeus, to plan MAMMA MIA!'s global roll-out with justified confidence.

The statistics are awesome, breathtaking, almost impossible to digest.

Generating over 8 MILLION DOLLARS A WEEK through 13 productions around the globe (10 resident and 3 touring) the show has grossed over $1 BILLION, and has now been seen by an extraordinary 20 MILLION PEOPLE, (although that figure is easier to appreciate when you consider that a worldwide audience of 18,000 see it every night!) Following last years landmark opening in Stockholm, ABBA's home city, later this year yet another production, in Italian, will open in Milan.

The London show, which alone has been responsible for 3? million ticket sales, moved theatres in 2004, from its original base at the Prince Edward theatre, to the fabulously refurbished Prince of Wales theatre, following a £7,000,000 restoration.

Now booking until 2006, MAMMA MIA!'s popularity shows no sign of waning, and the sales of Original Cast recording and the special edition cast recording could cause a precious metal shortage if they win- which they surely will, the soundtracks having gained the accolade in the US, Australia, Korea, Ireland, Canada, the UK, Germany, Holland, Sweden, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

Judy Craymer, whose vision as producer inspired writer Catherine Johnson and director Phyllida Lloyd to the creative heights they've achieved, remains astonished at MAMMA MIA!'s reception.

"No one could ever, ever have imagined, let alone predicted, the phenomenal success this show has enjoyed, but perhaps 'enjoyment', pure and simple, is the secret behind what's happened. It's a thrilling, colourful, humorous show with immense human warmth, and it has delighted audiences of every colour, creed and character wherever it's been staged. All I can say is "Mamma Mia!" and "Thank you, London" for starting the ball rolling."

With music & lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, MAMMA MIA! is written by Catherine Johnson, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and choreographed by Anthony Van Laast. The production is designed by Mark Thompson with lighting design by Howard Harrison, sound design by Andrew Bruce & Bobby Aitken and musical supervision , additional material & arrangements by Martin Koch.

MAMMA MIA! is produced by Judy Craymer, Richard East & Björn Ulvaeus for Littlestar in association with Universal.