The popular stage musical Mamma Mia!, which showcases the songs of 70s pop group ABBA, is making a triumphant return to Broadway in a limited engagement at the Winter Garden Theatre with performances from August 2 and a gala official opening night on August 14. The play will be performed on the heels of George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck production. Additionally, the Clooney Good Night and Good Luck Broadway show was recently announced to be a first-time live play broadcast on CNN.
As Mamma Mia! returns to the stage, producer Judy Craymer sits down with Deadline to talk about the musical. Craymer teases a bit about what is coming next for the franchise, including a planned TV version. However, she retains the secrecy around the details of all her future plans and says, “It’ll be a comedy-drama made for TV. I’m not doing that now. But I’m just saying it could happen.” However, Craymer would drop some tidbits on who she would have Sabrina Carpenter play if she were to approach her for a third Mamma Mia! movie that would follow the 2018 film Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
When talking about the musical’s effect on bringing ABBA’s music to younger generations, Craymer says, “I don’t even do TikTok, but I know from the demographics that memories and nostalgia feeds into all of those into Instagram, TikTok and everything. The story arc of Mamma Mia! includes everybody.” She continues to say that the Sabrina Carpenter generation “and Dua Lipa’s and then even Pink’s generation are all influenced by the [ABBA] songs.” As she makes that statement, Deadline asks about a possible involvement of Carpenter in a third film. When poked a bit for details on who they would have her play, Craymer replies, “She’d be a goddess or some relation who would look very much like Meryl Streep.”
When Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was released, our JimmyO had a fun time and wrote in his review, “MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN is not a great musical, but the soundtrack is better this time with a few fresh songs from the ABBA collection. Thankfully, the lesser vocalists in the original film have far less to do here. Writer/director Ol Parker manages to inject a bit more energy into this new story. Yet the film’s heart is Lily James. The actress is utterly charming as a free-spirited young woman that falls in love easily, and deals with pretty much everything in her life by breaking out into song. Yet, the actress makes it work. If anything can be said about this latest sugar-coated romantic fable, this may be the performance to really show what Ms. James can do. And since much of the run time is spent on her, it makes the experience more enjoyable all around.”
