On the stage is the world-famous musical hit Mamma Mia. Not an empty seat in the house, the musical production of ABBA’s smash hits has the audience up on their feet and singing together with the cast.

Sorry to see the curtain fall, the audience encourages the performers to stay for one more song with louder applauses and cheers.

- The emotions I feel about the songs are the same so many decades later. Applause came naturally, because the performance was so exciting.
- I used to love ABBA’s songs. I felt like I was back in my student days. It was great.
- These are the familiar melodies I used to hear in my high school years.

Mamma Mia is a musical production composed of the Swedish pop group ABBA’s top hits. Since its debut performance in London in April 1999, Mamma Mia has been a worldwide smash hit and has even spawned a feature film. Korean audiences have loved it as well ever since it was first performed locally in January 2004. The production has garnered rave reviews and audience response since then and December 10th of last year marked its 1,000th performance. Mamma Mia broke the 1,000th performance mark in the shortest time for a large-scale production presented in thousand-plus-seat theaters. Musical critic and Soonchunhyang University Professor Won Jong-won says that is a significant achievement in the Korean musical history.

In Korea stage musicals were thought of as a neglected side branch of classic theater play. So, it was practically unheard of for a musical to have a long run, not to mention high profits. Most of the productions were small in scale and could not make enough money. But Mamma Mia demonstrated through its one thousand showings that a musical production can run for a long time and be profitable.

Mamma Mia has become one of the most beloved musicals in Korean history. Then, what made the production so appealing to the Korean audience?

Mamma Mia takes place on a small island in the Mediterranean. Its main characters are Donna, the owner of a small inn on the island but once an aspiring lead vocalist in a group, and her soon-to-be-married daughter, Sophie.

After peeking inside Donna’s old journal, Sophie sets out to find her biological father before her wedding.

At Sophie’s invitation, three men from Donna’s past arrive at the island before the wedding. Their arrival puts Donna at odds with Sophie, but they eventually respect each other’s lives and make up their differences. The musical ends with Sophie finding her real father and Donna reliving her glory days with her singer friends.

Mamma Mia in Korea has set records for 1.3 million tickets sold and 800 billion won in accumulated sales. Here’s Seensee Company CEO Park Myung-sung to explain more.

Mamma Mia practically wrote the history of Korean stage musicals. The debut production alone cost 10 billion won and it ran for over three months at the Opera Theater of the Seoul Arts Center with a 97% seat occupancy. It was particularly amazing that the production was able to capture mature audiences, especially middle-aged homemakers, who were not that interested in musical theater. Mamma Mia opened the era of Korean musical boom.

The first reason Mamma Mia grew so popular in Korea is common in all Mamma Mia productions around the world – 22 of ABBA’s greatest hits. Here’s Musical critic and Soonchunhyang University Professor Won Jong-won again.

The secret to Mamma Mia’s popularity is its music. People are already familiar with ABBA’s music, and that familiarity allows people to like it even more. Since people no longer can see ABBA perform live, the musical helps relieve their longing for the Swedish pop group.

Familiar tunes and a solid plot also made the huge success of Mamma Mia possible, says Musical critic and Soonchunhyang University Professor Won Jong-won.

The musical had an edge, because it was based on famous songs, but that was not all there was to the musical’s success. A production has to have an added element to boost the enjoyment of watching it. In Mamma Mia’s case it was a solid plot line that complemented the songs very well. The lyrics were not changed at all, but fit the story perfectly. The witty incorporation of the songs in the plot amazed the audiences in the English-speaking countries. So, the original story as well as the songs made Mamma Mia such a big success.

Sophie sings “Honey, Honey” when reading her mother’s diary.

Until now we talked about the common appeals in all Mamma Mia productions. Then, what is the musical’s appeal in Korea with very short musical history? Seensee Company CEO Park Myung-sung says that the Korean version of Mamma Mia has its own charm points.



It was undoubtedly a risky move to present Mamma Mia in Korea, because we weren’t sure how Koreans would react to it. The biggest factor in the success of Mamma Mia in Korea is the script was adapted and the lyrics were changed to fit the sentiments of Korean people. For instance, the relationship between the mother and the daughter was kept very dry in overseas productions, but in Korea the mother-daughter ties were played up to suit Korean people’s inclination for heartwarming family love.

Furthermore, inspiring acting by Korean actors helped the audience focus completely on the musical. Here’s Musical critic and Soonchunhyang University Professor Won Jong-won to explain more.

The acting of Korean actors is already world-class. Koreans are very talented in many areas. So Korean musical actors and actresses were able to carry out exceptional level of dancing, acting, and singing. I believe the popularity of Mamma Mia in Korea can be attributed largely to the competence of Korean actors.

On the day of Sophie’s wedding, Donna brushes Sophie’s hair and helps put her wedding dress one. The scene where Donna sings “Slipping through My Fingers” is one of the most touching scenes in the musical in which only Korean mothers can identify with. Such strong emotional involvement drives actors and actresses to give their all on the stage, says actress Choi Jung-won in the role of Donna and actor Sung Ki-yun in that of Sam.

- The original cast of Mamma Mia told me that the dramatic elements were alive in the Korean production. Nobody cried after watching the overseas productions, but the Korean Mamma Mia made people cry. I was told that Koreans have a very strong energy.
- Korean actors tend to be very passionate and emotional. Even a simple idea is amplified to reflect a deeper emotion, which is what sets the Korean version apart from foreign ones. I can assure you that you will not only enjoy the songs and dance, but also completely immerse yourself in the drama.

- I love how passionate the actors were. I was able to take in all their energy. This is my second time seeing the musical and I was so moved.
- I saw the Broadway production of Mamma Mia last week. I think the Korean production is more energetic and has better acting. I was really amazed at how good the Korean show was.

Not only was the cast completely immersed in the musical, but the production staff who had been with the team through the whole one thousand performances was behind it 100%. It is no surprise that the production enjoys such a long run. Here’s Seensee Company CEO Park Myung-sung again.

The number of the Mamma Mia production staff stands at 127, including the actors, musicians, and technicians. These 127 people have been together for almost eight years. Good acting is only one element in a successful production. Only when all 127 people work together as one and create a flawless ensemble can the production win rave reviews.

Sung Ki-yun, who plays one of Donna’s old lovers, Sam, has never missed a day over the past one thousand performances. He is the model of perfect attendance.

I have the perfect attendance record. I haven’t missed a performance yet. Lee Kyung-min and Jeon Su-kyung have also been with the team since the beginning, racking up 900 performances. Such involvement of actors is what makes it possible to maintain the musical’s high quality. There are other smaller plays that have been on for a long time, but people worry about whether they will be as good as the original cast. Those who come to see Mamma Mia doesn’t worry about how the current cast compares with the original one, because we are the same.

The success of the Korean Mamma Mia production has galvanized the Korean stage musical industry. The know-how of the Korean production was passed to the Chinese version of Mamma Mia, which has reaped huge success in China as well.

The Chinese production of Mamma Mia was made by a Chinese government agency, a Chinese media company, and a Korean entertainment company, CJ E&M. Here’s CJ E&M Planning Team leader Choi Jae-won.

Although the U.S. and the U.K. are big musical markets, China chose to work with Korea, because the Korean performing arts market has grown exponentially over the past ten years. Since the musical genre gained big audience in the early 2000s, many Koreans say they see a musical or a live performance at the end of the year. Although the musical market is huge in the U.S. or the U.K., the stage musicals are considered rather old and passé, while Korea’s musical market is young and dynamic. Since China and Korea are in the same cultural sphere, China felt that they could take advantage of Korea’s know-how in this genre. That led to the joint venture and the success of Mamma Mia in China.

The Chinese language version of Mamma Mia debuted in Shanghai in July and is enjoying an occupancy rate of 80%. Korean musical production companies are beginning to demonstrate their competitiveness in the world market. Musical critic and Soonchunhyang University Professor Won Jong-won even argues that Korea may become the Broadway of Asia.

The Korean musical market has an immense potential. It is performing so well as to be a candidate for the Broadway of Asia. Since The Phantom of the Opera was first presented in 2001, Korea’s musical sales have grown 17 to 18% every year, an unprecedentedly rapid growth. If we used our knowledge and experiences accumulated over the past decade, the dream of becoming the next Broadway may not be that farfetched.

Just as Korean dramas and pop songs are doing right now, Korean musicals may soon emerge as a new cultural content that will captivate the global audience.