Based on the hit
Abba single of the same name. "Mamma Mia!" first opened in London on April, 6th, 1999 at the Prince Edward theater. It had its North American debut at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre on May 23rd, 2000. The original Toronto cast then moved on to Mamma Mia!'s pre-Broadway tour starting in San Francisco, moving on to Los Angeles, then Chicago. It was while the original Toronto cast was performing in Chicago that
Louise Pitre (Donna) and
Tina Maddigan (Sophie) were invited to play their same roles in the original Broadway cast, which opened on October 18th, 2001, directed by
Phyllida Lloyd at the Winter Garden Theater, the former home of Cats. The play was nominated by the 2002 Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Score, and Pitre was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical. The play has exceeded 3100 performance on Broadway by April 2009. It now has toured in over 140 cities across America. As of April 2007, Mamma Mia! has open run productions in: New York, London, Las Vegas, Madrid, Moscow, Stuttgart, Fukuoka (opened May 19, 2007) Gothenburg (opened May 9, 2007) Essen, also has an US tour and an International tour traveling to cities all over the globe. Mamma Mia! has also played in Melbourne, Australia and Utrecht, The Netherlands, and in Copenhagen and Horsens, Denmark. According to Variety, the play's original producer and writer "were broke when they first tried to put the show together and were even snubbed by the Swedish pop group whose music formed the basis for the show. They are now two of the wealthiest women in England."
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