"Mamma Mia!" has been adapted from the popular stage musical of the same name into a mega-hit musical movie in 2008. It went on to gross over $611 million worldwide, and even though it took ten years for the sequel/prequel to arrive, its $402 million box office proved that there was still an appetite for more of the fluffy fun that comes with the franchise.
In May 2021, producer Judy Craymer explained that the franchise was always planned as a trilogy. Now, the producer has provided a few more details on the long-awaited threequel.
When Craymer persuaded ABBA to allow her to make a musical out of their back catalogue, she never imagined the show would still be running twenty-five years later – not to mention spawn two hit movies starring Meryl Streep.
To celebrate the stage production’s quarter-century anniversary, Craymer is now bringing “Mamma Mia” to British TV screens with a new talent competition show, titled “Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream.”
Produced by Fremantle-owned Thames and set to air on ITV1 in the U.K. from this Sunday, the show aims to find a new Sophie and Sky (played by Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper in the movies) to star in the West End.
After holding open auditions, which saw thousands of wannabe Sophies and Skys apply, applicants were whittled down to 500 and then to a final 14 (seven boys and seven girls) who were swiftly whisked off to “musical bootcamp” on a picturesque Greek island.
After being put through their paces by some of Craymer’s longtime collaborators (including choreographer Anthony Van Lasst, musical maestro Martin Lowe, and casting supremo David Grindrod) the contestants strut their stuff in front of a panel of judges, comprised of “Glee” star Amber Riley, singer Jessie Ware, West End star Samantha Barks (who currently plays Elsa in the London production of “Frozen The Musical”) and comedian Alan Carr. (Zoe Ball hosts the show).
The show also includes a few cameos from the movie to cheer the contestants on. The winning Sophie and Sky – who will each be awarded a year-long theater contract – will be decided by a public vote in the final live show of the season.
Craymer describes the competition show as a cross between the stage show and the movie – made for television.
“We’ve never done a live TV production of the musical,” Craymer, who spent a month in Greece overseeing proceedings, tells Variety. “I love the idea of a new challenge.”
"Over the years people had approached me about various television ideas or casting ideas, and it definitely wasn’t something that I felt was right. The difference [this time] was the stars were aligned," she noted.
"Thames Fremantle got the idea of making the show on location, which really gave a unique feel to it — it really took it into another realm of a hybrid of the stage show and the movies — and so that really appealed. And it was building up to 25 years. I was thinking, basically, how can we celebrate “Mamma Mia”?",
Craymer also shared her plans for a third “Mamma Mia” movie, noting: "I am so hands on with everything that I can only do so much. So the TV show has been a big priority,".
"I’m sure [the third movie] will happen. I’m in the privileged position that I have Universal Studios wanting to do it, who I love working with, and I have a storyline. It just always takes a certain amount of time with “Mamma Mia.” Bjorn and Benny always take a certain amount of convincing,".
"I don’t know how much more convincing they’re gonna have because everybody wants another film. But they had ABBA Voyage and then they wanted a rest from ABBA stuff. But it will happen. We’ve done the television show and now maybe I’ll focus on the movie. Maybe that’ll be a second 25-year celebration," she added.
Craymer also opened up about the popularity of “Mamma Mia”.
"No, no idea at all. I definitely would not have envisaged this as the master plan of everything. I mean, to do an eight-part TV series for ITV or two very successful movies… “Mamma Mia” has brought so many different generations to the theatre, I think that’s its great legacy. Some people say, “You haven’t done the stage musical of ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ yet” and I’m like, “Ok! I will, I will!”
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