Still Smitten: Catchy musical ‘Mamma Mia!’ celebrates 1,000th show in Vegas

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 | 8:16 a.m.

It was simple but brilliant use the music of ABBA at the center of a musical, "Mamma Mia!"

For almost a decade ABBA was one of the most popular pop groups in the world, turning out such hits as "Mamma Mia!" "Super Trouper," "S.O.S.," "Waterloo" and "Dancing Queen."

The members included two married couples from Sweden, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog, and Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letter of each of their names.

And Craymer was one of ABBA's biggest fans.

"I was smitten with the songs," she explained in a telephone interview from her London office. "Something hooked me."

Long after the group faded from the public eye, Craymer came up with the idea of weaving some of ABBA's songs into a musical.

It took 10 years but "Mamma Mia!" finally premiered in London on April 6, 1999. Since then, the light-hearted musical has swept the world.

There are 13 shows in production, including one at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, where the 1,000th performance will be celebrated tonight.

The local version premiered in February 2003.

Von Vett-eran

Reyna Von Vett, who plays the role of Tanya, has been with the production from the beginning the first year as a member of the chorus while understudying two of the leads (main character Donna and Donna's friend Tanya.)

Von Vett actually played the part of Tanya opening night in 2003 when Karole Foreman, who played the role, called in sick the day before the premiere.

"They called me at 11 a.m. to come in," Von Vett said. "Fortunately the costumes had already been built for me. It was one of those classic showbiz breaks. The next night was opening I did pretty well."

Well enough to be offered the role the following year when Foreman left the show. Von Vett, born in 1972 (two years after ABBA's birth), grew up listening to the music of the pop legends (among others) and loved it.

"I think it's great music," Von Vett, a native of Minneapolis, said. "From a musical perspective, it's not easy to write infectious pop hits."

Von Vett has been in most of the local performances (but for the two months she was out after breaking her foot onstage), and says she still sings the songs to herself when she's offstage.

"I can't get 'Waterloo' out of my head," she said.

Von Vett is thrilled to be with one of the most popular musicals in the world. Contracts for the performers end each February at that time it is the option of the producers to offer a renewal, and the option of the actors whether to sign for another year.

"So many people have come and gone," she said. "There are 11 people still with the show that are part of the original cast -- so about two-thirds have only been there a year or two.

"There is always new energy."

More shows

The most recent addition to the list of "Mamma Mia!" productions opened in February in Stockholm, Sweden. The Broadway show is in its fourth year.

Another production will open in Milan, Italy, within the next nine months. A Moscow production debuts next year.

"And we think we will open in China, with a production in Mandarin," Craymer said.

And an international tour with an all-British cast will be launched in the near future.

"It would tour places that couldn't afford to have the show on a long-term engagement -- South Africa, Estonia," Craymer said. "These would be two- or three-week stops -- a bus and truck tour with huge leaps around the world."

All of the shows are produced by Littlestar Services Ltd., a company formed in 1996 by Craymer, Richard East and ABBA co-founders Andersson and Ulvaeus.

"Policing (the shows) -- quality control -- is paramount to me," Craymer said. "I only got the rights (to produce) because I cared so much ... it is important to me to keep the quality."

Craymer says the show will never become a franchise.

"We do not license it," she said. "We will never let someone else do the show."

Apparently the philosophy works.

More than 23 million fans worldwide have seen the show (more than 18,000 a night). The slate of shows generates more than $8 million a week in sales, earning more than $1 billion at the box office since its premiere.

Life's work

" 'Mamma Mia!' is very much the center of my life," Craymer said.

And she wouldn't have it any other way. Theater has always been the center of her universe.

"I grew up in the theater," she said. "I trained as a stage manger -- I cut my teeth on stage managing. The love of my life is musicals."

Craymer graduated from London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1977, then worked as a stage manager for several productions, including "Cats" in 1981.

In '84 she became managing director of Three Knights Ltd., formed by Andersson, Ulvaeus and Tim Rice. In 1990, Craymer became head of television development for Film and General Productions.

She had a full life producing films and television shows, but "Mamma Mia!" doesn't leave her room for much of anything else.

"It takes up all of my time," Craymer said. "I'm very hands-on with all of the productions. You want every single one to be right.

"I always dreamt of having a show that worked -- I just had no idea it was going to work so well."

Craymer makes no apologies for helping create a musical that may seem rather fluffy to fans of more legitimate theater.

"It's storytelling, driven by the songs of ABBA," she said. "To hear 'Winner Takes it All' onstage -- it's very much our 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina.'

"We weren't out to make a Greek tragedy -- we just wanted to reflect the fun of the music."

The plot is about a relationship between a single mother and her daughter, who is about to get married. The daughter finds out her mother had an affair with three men at about the same time and one of the men is the daughter's father.

"The story is very much about the characters and character development," Craymer said.

Persistence pays

It wasn't easy to get the production off the ground.

"I just kind of kept banging on the door," Craymer said.

She said whenever she discussed her idea with Ulvaeus and Andersson, who wrote ABBA's songs, they would be encouraging enough that she never gave up on the idea.

Finally, in the '90s, ABBA experienced a revival. Fans again were taking an interest in the music, which by then had fallen into the category of Golden Oldies.

Interest in Craymer's idea for a musical based on ABBA finally took hold.

"ABBA didn't see it as a financial thing, they were just intrigued by the whole idea," she said.

After several writers proposed different story lines, Catherine Johnson was chosen.

After the successful debut of the London production, a second opened in Toronto in 2000.

"It was our first show after London," Craymer said. "We were testing the water in North America."

The company had planned to stay in Toronto 26 weeks, but ended up staying five years -- it closed on May 23, the fifth anniversary of the production.

The numbers had begun to slip, and rather than wait, producers pulled the plug.

"We wanted to go out on a high note," Craymer said.

The show's songs -- and the script -- have been translated into several languages for fans in other countries, including Spain and Germany (which has two productions).

"To make the story and the show work, the audiences have to understand the words," Craymer said.

An interesting phenomenon is that many fans of "Mamma Mia!" are not that familiar with ABBA. The younger ones only know ABBA through the musical.

"Now when you talk to the younger generation after they hear an ABBA song, they say, 'That's from 'Mamma Mia!' "

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