Neon-colored flare-legged jumpsuits, sequined platform boots, and feather boas. An army of men in swim trunks and flippers belting about flirtatious young love. Add in Donna and The Dynamos with a trio of confused could-be dads and soon there’s a whole ensemble of Dancing Queens singing in perfect multi-part harmony in New York City again.
After a decade-long absence, hit musical Mamma Mia! is back on Broadway for a six-month limited engagement at the very same theatre it first occupied for its initial record-breaking 14-year run, the Winter Garden.
Amy Weaver had never seen the musical before being cast in the 25th anniversary North American tour in 2023. But she was very familiar with the hilarious, heartwarming tale of love and friendship, where the soon-to-be married Sophie goes on a quest to learn the truth about her father despite her mother Donna’s wishes — all the while dancing to ABBA’s greatest hits.
“I grew up on the movie,” she told The Independent just days before making her Broadway debut as Sophie as the national tour cast transfers to New York City. “It was something that I watched when I wanted to be re-inspired about life in general.”
The 2008 hit film adaptation of the musical featured Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård and Christine Baranski, while Lily James and Cher appeared in the 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
But the films haven’t stopped Mamma Mia! from continuing its record-breaking run in London. Having opened in 1999 and still running for well over 10,000 performances, the production is the fifth longest-running West End show of all time and shows no signs of slowing.
With over a dozen of ABBA’s most iconic songs, including “Dancing Queen,” “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!,” “Voulez-Vous,” and, of course, the titular tune, Mamma Mia! has an enduring appeal to multiple generations of theatergoers — perhaps even more so now than when it first debuted over 25 years ago.
A large part of the show’s appeal are the wise-cracking women and their complicated relationships wrapped up in a singing, dancing, sequin-filled joy bomb.
That’s because the musical’s romantic plot between Sophie and her fiancé Sky is secondary to the friendships between Donna and her dynamos, as well as the mother-daughter relationship between her and Sophie.
Producer and creator Judy Craymer, along with book writer Catherine Johnson and original director Phyllida Lloyd, are the original trio of “dynamos” who brought the musical to life.
Inspired by the “strong woman’s story” of the iconic song “The Winner Takes It All,” Craymer told The Independent that their “ambition was always to create something original.”
And the central theme of strong women remains a point of inspiration for the next generation of Mamma Mia! audiences and performers alike.
Weaver is one of 25 performers making their Broadway debuts in the first-ever revival of Mamma Mia!. She takes on the central role after first understudying Sophie on tour and then assuming the part full-time for its second year.
She admires how mother-daughter duo Donna (played in the new Broadway production by Christine Sherrill) and Sophie are always speaking their minds, that “strong woman” inspiration Craymer and Johnson drew on to create the show.
“Sometimes it doesn't come out pretty and it doesn't come out exactly the way you planned,” Weaver said, “but I think it's better to just have it come out in that they're also speaking up for themselves. That is so important for women to see right now.”
But it took some convincing for ABBA masterminds Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus to originally agree to the story being written around their existing songs. The Swedish pop group had been disbanded in 1982 when Craymer approached them.
“They literally [said], ‘No, we’re moving on. Why on Earth would anyone be interested?,’” Craymer recalled to The Independent. “That’s why it took so long.”
Then, two years after it was up and running in London and just weeks from opening in New York, the 9/11 attacks happened. People questioned whether the show should go on.
“It turned out to be a really OK thing to do,” Johnson told The Independent.
The musical’s feel-good nature brought much-needed joy through some of the darkest periods in recent history — and its creators hope audiences can again turn to it when seeking respite during this time of political divisiveness and unrest.
“The musical has woven itself into the fabric of our memory and become maybe something that you just keep wanting to go back to because it's a comforting place, but without being entirely safe,” Johnson said.
“It is funny the number of people I've met over the years who have said to me that they go back to Mamma Mia! when they're not feeling on top of the world about something, or rather if they're feeling a bit down, they will pop in and see the show or watch the movie and it never fails to cheer them up.”
Weaver agrees — since the show has always been that for her too.
“That's what we're craving right now, things that are comforting, things that are safe,” Weaver said. “And not only is Mamma Mia! that for so many people, but it's also so joyful and such an escape.”
That joy is certainly something the world could use more of. So, for that we say: Thank you for the music.
Mamma Mia! is running at the Winter Garden Theatre through February 1, 2026, and continues to run at London’s Novello Theatre.
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