The Grand Theatre de Luxembourg is putting on the smash hit musical Mamma Mia! from 16 December 2015 to 3 January 2016.
Music & Lyrics By Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus and some songs with Stig Anderson. In English, with French & German surtitles. For performance times, see www.lestheatres.lu. No shows on 21, 24, 28 December. Duration 2:15, plus interval.
This is guaranteed to be an evening like no other at the Grand Théâtre; the timelessness of ABBA’s music combined with the heartfelt feel-good emotions of the show, this musical will have audiences dancing in the aisles.
MAMMA MIA! premiered in London in April 1999 and is now in its sixteenth year. A true phenomenon, it opened in more than 400 major cities worldwide – faster than any other musical in history and has been seen by over 54 million people worldwide.
Set on a Greek island, it tells a story of love, friendship and identity. Sophie’s quest to discover the father she’s never known brings her mother face to face with three men from her distant romantic past on the eve of a wedding they’ll never forget.
Even after all these years and taking the show internationally, its creators have never lost sight of what they were seeking to achieve. Producer Judy Craymer insists it was by chance rather than design that the show was created by three women, but concedes that ultimately their personalities were instinctively written into the characters. Perhaps this has played a part in the secret of the show’s success, because it is not only the creators who see themselves onstage, but audiences do too. Musical Director Phyllida Lloyd also notes that in Catherine Johnson’s ingenious story, audiences have a very particular experience when they identify with the characters. In the process, the songs are re-born and the show’s themes – of lost parents, a search for identity, and the generation gap – have a universal resonance. As Johnson says, “there’s a mother-daughter relationship; an old romance; there’s losing someone and finding them again. There are all kinds of things that everyone can relate to”. This is a show about real people in real situations, yet a wonderful pop score from the ’70s and early ’80s anchors it now as the soundtrack for a show whose appeal crosses all age and national boundaries.
MAMMA MIA! is a sophisticated, but not pretentious, musical that re-introduces the familiarity of a pop idiom – with songs that people already know and love – to the theatre. MAMMA MIA! has brought theatre audiences around the world to their feet and had them dancing in the aisles.
Tickets Adultes €65, €40, €25 (children €8) available from www.luxembourg-ticket.lu.
