Mamma Mia! Broadway breaks BO record and welcomes Mayor Bloomberg and Colin Powell

The smash hit musical, MAMMA MIA!, which in 2004 surpassed a worldwide gross of $1 billion dollars since opening in London five years ago, broke another record this week at the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre.

For eight performances (week ending Jan 1, 2005) Broadway's MAMMA MIA! grossed a record $1,130,026.51 topping last year's year-end house record of $1,102,780.16 (week ending January 3, 2004).

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Secretary of State Colin Powell (who has seen the show four times) chose to see out the year at MAMMA MIA!, before moving down to Times Square to officially bring in the New Year with the lowering of the crystal ball at One Times Square. Mayor Bloomberg and the Secretary of State visited backstage and met with stars Carolee Carmello, Liz McCartney and Judy McLane, and other cast and crew members.

With four companies playing in North America alone (which between them grossed $190 million in 2004 alone), MAMMA MIA! has more productions playing around the world than any other current Broadway musical. The global phenomenon can be experienced in six different languages.

In 2004, the London production celebrated a Fifth Anniversary and moved to the beautifully renovated Prince of Wales Theatre, where it continues to play to sold-out houses. MAMMA MIA! is produced by Judy Craymer, Richard East and Björn Ulvaeus for Littlestar in association with Universal.

During 2004 new productions of MAMMA MIA! opened in Germany, Korea, Spain and the International Tour debuted in Ireland. In 2005 some of the new countries MAMMA MIA! will be seen include Sweden, France, Japan, South Africa, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal and Estonia.

For more information about MAMMA MIA! around the world, go to www.mamma-mia.com