THE CREATIVE TEAM

Bjorn Ulvaeus (Composer/Producer) was born in 1945 in Gothenberg on the West Coast of Sweden. After a successful local career in Sweden with a folk group in the mid '60s, he started his collaboration with Benny Andersson. They then went on to form ABBA with Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Even during the ABBA years, the idea of writing a musical seemed appealing and in 1981, Bjorn and Benny met Tim Rice and co-wrote Chess with him, which opened in the West End in 1986. In 1995 Bjorn and Benny opened a new musical in Sweden called Kristina Fran Duvemala which recently completed a four year run.

Benny Andersson (Composer/Producer) was born in Stockholm December 16, 1946. Instructed by his father and grandfather, he started to play the accordion at the age of six and he has not stopped yet.

Catherine Johnson (Book) lives in Bristol. She has two children, Huw and Myfi. Her theatre credits include Rag Doll, Too Much Too Young and Renegades for the Bristol Old Vic; Boys Mean Business, Dead Sheep and Shang-A-Lang for the Bush. She has won the Bristol Old Vic/HTV Play-Writing Award; Thames Television Writer-in-Residence Award and Thames Television Best Play Award. For television, Catherine has written episodes of “Casualty,” “Love Hurts,” “Gold” and “Byker Grove” and the screenplay Sin-Bin. She wrote an original series for C4: “Love In The 21st Century.” She is currently writing a new series for C4 and is adapting her play Shang-A-Lang into a film for Scala. 

Phyllida Lloyd (Director) was bom in Bristol and read English and Drama at Birmingham University. Phyllida’s regional theatre work includes seasons at Worcester, Ipswich, Cheltenham, Manchester and Bristol. Productions include: The Comedy of Errors, A Streetcar Named Desire, Dona Rosita, The Spinster and Oliver Twist  (Bristol Old Vic), The Winter’s Tale, The School for Scandal, Death and The King’s Horseman and Medea (Manchester Royal Exchange). London theatre includes: Six Degrees of Separation and Hysteria (Royal Court Theatre and West End transfer), The Threepenny Opera (Donmar Warehouse), Dona Rosita (Almeida). Pericles, What the Butler Saw, The Way of the World and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Royal National Theatre),  The Virtuoso and Artists and Admirers (RSC), Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward). The USA includes Hysteria (Mark Taper Forum, LA). Opera includes: L’Etoile, La Bohème, Medea, Carmen and Gloriana (Royal Opera House and Opera North), Macbeth (Opera National de Paris), Dialogue of the Carmelites (English National Opera). Future productions: The Handmaid’s Tale (Royal Danish Opera) and The Verdi Requiem and Wagner's Ring, both for English National Opera. Phyllida has recently finished making the film of the opera Gloriana for BBC2.

Anthony Van Laast (Choreographer) was trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance, later joining the company as both performer and choreographer. Choreography: Whistle Down The Wind (London); Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (worldwide - Olivier Award nomination, Dramalogue Award); Song & Dance (original production, London; Greenroom Award, Australia); Jesus Christ Superstar (Broadway and U.K.); the London productions of A Little Night Music, Into The Woods, Candide (Olivier Award, Best Musical), Hair and The Beggars’ Opera (Olivier nominations for both); The Boy From Oz (Australia); Siegfried And Roy (the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas). Direction: Chess (U.K. and European tour); Carmen Jones; EFX, starring Michael Crawford (MGM Grand, Las Vegas); Burn The Floor (world tour); Extravaganza For Holiday On Ice (world tour); Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 50th Birthday Celebration (Albert Hall). Concerts: Elaine Paige, Sarah Brightman, Wayne Sleep, Kate Bush, Cleo Laine, Barry Humphries (Dame Edna). In 1999, Anthony was awarded the MBE by Her Majesty The Queen for services to dance and choreography.

Mark Thompson (Production Designer) read Drama at Birmingham University. Theatre: Rep work includes Worcester, Exeter, Sheffield, Leeds. Royal Exchange, Manchester: Jumpers, The Country Wife, Mumbo Jumbo (also Lyric, Hammersmith), The School for Scandal. Other: Owners (Young Vic), Good (Brussels), The Scarlet Pimpernel (Chichester and Her Majesty’s), Cabaret (Strand), The Sneeze (Aldwych), Ivanov and Much Ado About Nothing (Strand), A Night of Music (Piccadilly), Shadowlands (Queen’s and Broadway), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (London Palladium, Canadian, Australian and American tours), Six Degrees of Separation (Royal Court and Comedy), Hysteria (Royal Court and Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles), The Kitchen (Royal Court), Insignificance and Company (Donmar and Albery), Art (Wyndham’s, Chicago, Los Angeles and Broadway), Neverland (Royal Court), The Front Page (Donmar), Doctor Dolittle (London Apollo Hammersmith) and The Blue Room (Donmar and Broadway). RSC: Measure for Measure, The Wizard of Oz, Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet and The Unexpected Man (and Duchess). Almeida: Volpone, Betrayal, Party Time and Butterfly Kiss. RNT: The Wind in the Willows, The Madness of George III and Arcadia (Haymarket, Lincoln Center Theater, New York), Pericles, What the Butler Saw and The Day I Stood Still. Most recently, he designed Alan Bennett’s new play The Lady in the Van starring Maggie Smith (Queen’s Theatre) and Blast! (London Apollo Hammersmith). Opera: Falstaff (Scottish Opera), Peter Grimes (Opera North), Ariadne auf Naxos (Salzburg), Il Viaggio a Reims (ROH), Hansel and Gretel (Sydney Opera House), The Two Widows (ENO) and Queen of Spades (The Met, New York), Costume Design only for Montag Aus Licht (La Scala, Milan). Ballet: Don Quixote (Royal Ballet). Film: costume design for The Madness of King George. Awards: 1990/91 Olivier Award, Plays and Players, and Critics’ Award for The Wind in the Willows; 1992 Olivier Awards for Set Design and Costume Design for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Comedy of Errors; 1994 Olivier Award for Set Design for Hysteria, 1995 Critics’ Circle Award for The Kitchen.

Howard Harrison (Lighting Designer) was born in London and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He has worked extensively in theatre and opera in the UK and around the world. He has lit productions for amongst others, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera Australia, English National Ballet, Kirov Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. His recent and current work includes: Private Lives, Sleep with Me and Look Back in Anger at the Royal National Theatre, The Elixir of Love for English National Opera, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice and Timon of Athens for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake for English National Ballet, Martin Guerre currently on tour in the USA and Kat and the Kings and Putting It Together on Broadway. His future projects include the new musical The Witches of Eastwick in the West End, As You Like It for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Nabbuco for the Metropolitan Opera.

Andrew Bruce and Bobby Aitken (Sound Designers) Andrew Bruce began his career at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1968. He was appointed head of sound at the Royal Opera House in 1971 and a year later co-founded Autograph Sound Recording. Bobby Aitken joined Autograph as a sound designer in 1983 and in collaboration with Andrew designed the West End productions of Children of Eden and The Fix. Both are responsible for countless theatre and concert productions in this country and throughout the world. In 1981 Andrew was sound consultant on the original Paris version of Les Misérables and went on to design the sound for productions of the show in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. His other credits include Song & Dance, Abbacadabra, Little Me, Chess, Follies, Into the Woods, City of Angels, Martin Guerre, Hair, the UK tour of Cats, worldwide productions of Miss Saigon and the current UK tour of Oliver! Bobby Aitken’s designs include High Society, The Rocky Horror Show, Time, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Bitter Sweet, From a Jack to a King, Which Witch, Grease, The Iron Man, Five Guys Named Moe, associate designer on Rent and The Beggars Opera and Bartholomew Fair for the RSC. Bobby’s opera designs include Carmen, Madam Butterfly and, most recently, Tosca at the Royal Albert Hall.

Martin Koch (Musical Supervisor/ Additional Material and Arrangements) Training: Scholar Royal College of Music London. Musical Director: Chicago Cambridge Theatre, Cats New London Theatre, Pirates of Penzance Drury Lane Theatre, Blondel Aldwych Theatre, The Boyfriend The Albery Theatre, Follies Shaftesbury Theatre. Musical Supervisor : Into the Woods - The Phoenix Theatre, Les Miserables  - Barbican Theatre, Palace Theatre London, also Oslo, Vienna, Gedansk, Amsterdam, the Asian/South Africa Tour, Australian Tour and The 10th Anniversary Concert at The Royal Albert Hall. Miss Saigon - Drury Lane Theatre London, also Holland, Australia and preplanned the production in Germany and Japan, Just So - Tricycle Theatre London, Moby Dick - Piccadilly Theatre London, Which Witch - Piccadilly Theatre London, Oliver! - Palladium Theatre London and UK Tour, Martin Guerre UK Tour and Mamma Mia! at the Prince Edward . Recording: Twenty albums, five gold, two platinum including the original cast albums of Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Oliver! and The Les Miserables Symphonic. Also the Hey Mr Producer CD, a live recording of the Royal Gala performance at the Lyceum Theatre, most recently the original cast album of Mamma Mia!. Orchestrations: Just So, Moby Dick, Tutankhamun, Which Witch, Mamma Mia!, and many arrangements for international artists and orchestras. Martin has his own music production company with Nicholas Gilpin called Koch & Gilpin. Their partnership has been responsible for the composition and production of Olivier Awards 1993,94,95,99 and 00; BAFTA 1995,97 and 99;  “Aunties Greatest Hits,” a program to celebrate 50 years of BBC Television, Winton Wonderland, the 98 Eurovision Song Contest where they wrote the opening titles and devised and wrote the interval act, also the opening titles of The Nation's Favourite Lyrics. They jointly produced the cast album of Mamma Mia!. Currently they are writing the opening titles, the incidental music and the finale for Music Live - a 3 day live broadcast on the BBC network.

Edward G. Robinson (Music Director) has enjoyed a long and varied career conducting both in the the theatre and with symphony orchestras throughout the world. Theatre credits: On Broadway, Mr. Robinson was musical director of Miss Saigon, Shogun: The Musical and Cats. He also served as musical supervisor of all U.S. productions of Cats. He has conducted the Los Angeles company and U.S. national tour of Phantom Of The Opera, the U.S. tour of The Music Of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the European tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. Orchestral credits: As a guest conductor, Mr. Robinson has been seen with the Baltimore Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the Nashville Symphony, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and the Bolshoi Symphony, in Moscow. He has conducted tributes to Andrew Lloyd Webber and to Margaret Thatcher, on her 70th birthday. Television credits include: Broadway On Broadway, Star Search, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Live With Regis And Kathy Lee.

Nichola Treherne‘s (Associate Choreographer) performing career spans nearly 15 years, including Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet, Wayne Sleep’s Dash, The Hot Shoe Show, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song & Dance, Annie Get Your Gun, and Peter Pan – The Musical as well as many galas and television appearances. Directing: Resident director for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (London Palladium), for the same production, assistant director (Canadian tour and Australian tour), associate director (Broadway, U.S. tour, UK tour and Essen, Germany), resident director with Starlight Express (Japan). Directed and staged The Ricky Nelson Story (Sydmonton Festival), assistant director on By Jeeves (Scarborough and London) and associate director Magic of Broadway (Oslo 1996/97). Nichola is currently artistic supervisor for Starlight Express in London. Choreography: Her Benny (Empire Theatre, Liverpool), musical staging Yusopov (Sydmonton Festival), Barber of Seville (Opera Europa), and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (Sudely Castle, England and Kiev, Ukraine). Associate Choreographer with Anthony Van Laast including the revival of Hair (Old Vic), Carmen Jones (German tour), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Shall We Dance (Oslo), Jesus Christ Superstar (national tour) and Whistle Down the Wind (Aldwych Theatre). Nichola also assisted Anthony with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 50th Birthday Celebration at the Royal Albert Hall.

Robert McQueen‘s (Resident Director) association with Mirvish Productions began 11 years ago when he appeared in the original cast of Les Misérables at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. He is pleased to be returning to the company as resident director for Mamma Mia! Directing credits: Robert has worked in both Canada and the United States. This past season, his credits have included directing the Millennial Opera Gala for Roy Thomson Hall; associate directing Faust for the Cincinnati Opera and Turandot for Arizona Opera; and directing touring productions of L'Elisir D'Amore for the Vancouver Opera and The Magic Flute for the Canadian Opera Company. Additionally, this past season Robert directed productions of Blood Brothers for Western Canada Theatre Company and the Gateway Theatre; All Grown Up for the Belfry Theatre, in Victoria; and, most recently, The Cradle Will Rock for Studio 58, in Vancouver. Other regional directing work includes productions of Cabaret, Fire, Nymph Errant, Guys And Dolls, The Fantasticks and She Loves Me. Robert also spent a year and a half as the resident director on the Livent production of Showboat.

Judy Craymer (Producer) graduated from the Guildhall School of Music in 1977. She then worked as a stage manager for the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester, the Actors Company, Wayne Sleep’s one-man show, the Old Vic Theatre, London and finally in 1981, on the original London production of Cats for Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Company. In 1982 she joined Tim Rice and his production company Heartaches which co-produced Blondel with Cameron Mackintosh at the Old Vic and the Aldwych Theatre. In 1984 Judy became the managing director of Three Knights Ltd, formed by Benny Andersson, Tim Rice and Björn Ulvaeus and was the executive producer for the West End production of Chess at the Prince Edward Theatre. In 1987 Judy decided to pursue a career in film and television. Working with directors, Michael Radford, on the feature film White Mischief and John Schlesinger, on Madame Souzatzka which starred Shirley Maclaine. In 1990 she became head of television development for Film and General Productions and developed the successful children’s television series “Harry’s Mad” based on the novel by Dick King Smith for Central Television and produced two comedy specials for Channel 4, “Kit and The Widow New Year’s Day Special” and in 1992, “The Live Election Special.” Judy has been an executive producer of comedy and drama for both Tiger Aspect Productions and Primetime Television. In 1997 she produced the film of “Neville’s Island” for ITV, based on the West End play by Tim Firth, starring Timothy Spall and directed by Terry Johnson. Judy formed Littlestar Services Ltd in 1996 with Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Richard East, to produce Mamma Mia! which reunites her with Benny and Björn and the Prince Edward Theatre.
She is also executive producer for the documentary film The Winner Takes It All, celebrating 25 years of ABBA, produced and directed by Chris Hunt of Iambic Productions, which has been broadcast worldwide.

Richard East (Producer) Born in Australia, a Fine Art graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia, Richard has been involved in the entertainment industry for over 20 years in various capacities. His student days as National Cultural officer for the Australian Union of Students, led to professional work with the Australian Performing Group and the Pram Factory Theatre. He has worked on corporate and government projects, some of which include: Producer of Contemporary International and Australian Music for World Expo ’88, executive producer of the live broadcast and concert to welcome the arrival of the Tall Ships for Australia’s Bicentenary celebrations in Melbourne, and has been an advisor to the Australia Council on contemporary music. As a promoter Richard has presented or co-produced a diverse array of acts including INXS, Men at Work, Jimmy Barnes, Dire Straits, Julio Iglesias, Manhattan Transfer, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Lady Smith Black Mambazo, Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Laurie Anderson and recently Ben Folds Five. (But, unfortunately never Abba). He has worked on the management of some of Australia’s most successful exports, including John Farnham, Australian Crawl, The Little River Band, Jason Donovan and Kate Ceberano. As director of art and entertainment for IMG Australia, Richard oversaw the introduction of Barry and Fran Weissler’s multi award-winning production of Chicago to Australia in 1998. Mamma Mia! marks the debut production of his partnership with Judy Craymer, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, and he is honored to be involved in this exciting and original musical.