Australians will have a chance to experience the full ABBA smorgasbord when the Mamma Mia party comes to Sydney next year.
Created by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, Mamma Mia! The Party is an immersive theatrical dining event, where guests soak up the pop legends’ music in a restaurant recreated to look like a taverna on the Greek island of Skopelos, where most of the feature film was shot. Dinners are treated to Mediterranean cuisine and, of course, many of ABBA’s hits, performed by a live band and cast of 20 musicians and performers.
As the evening ends, fans can live out their “Dancing Queen” dream as the room becomes a 1970s-style disco.
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Mamma Mia! The Party is booked for its Australian premiere in March 2027 at Sydney Event Centre at The Star. It’s executive produced by Ulvaeus and Pophouse Entertainment, and TEG Dainty in Australia, whose president and CEO Paul Dainty was behind the Swedish group’s legendary tour down under a half century ago.
“Bringing Mamma Mia! The Party to Australia feels particularly special for me,” Dainty remarks. “I had the extraordinary privilege of promoting ABBA’s first and only Australian tour back in 1977, and I still remember the phenomenal excitement that followed them across the country.”
Through the friendships made on that first and only ABBA trek to these parts, ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Ulvaeus entrusted Dainty to tour Mamma Mia! 25 years later. The British-born concerts veteran also has the option to produce the hugely-popular ABBA: Voyage in these parts.
“Australia’s love affair with ABBA has never really ended,” Dainty adds, “their music has become part of our cultural fabric.”
He’s not wrong. Australia held the torch for ABBA when music tastes shifted, briefly abandoned, then came roaring back to Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida. The Melbourne-originated tribute brand Bjorn Again has been giving ABBA fans their fix since the late ‘80s and, in the ‘90s, the Aussie indie film Muriel’s Wedding introduced a new generation to the supergroup’s catalog.
In 2021, ABBA’s first studio LP in 40 years, Voyager, was an immediate hit in Australia, blasting to No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was the second ABBA album (and first studio set) to top the ARIA chart following the ABBA Gold compilation, which logged four straight weeks at No. 1 in December 1992.
Prior to the launch of the ARIA Charts in 1983, ABBA had leaders here with ABBA (11 weeks, December 1975 to February 1976), The Best of ABBA (16 weeks, March 1976 to July 1976) and Arrival (8 weeks, November 1976 to January 1977), the charts compiler reports.
The Mamma Mia! soundtrack, a collection of ABBA covers, also went to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart in 2018.
“To be now working with Björn and Pophouse to bring this extraordinary celebration of ABBA’s music to Sydney feels like a wonderful full-circle moment,” enthuses Dainty. “Mamma Mia! The Party is pure joy – it brings people together to eat, sing, dance and experience these songs in an entirely new way – and I can’t wait for Australian audiences to experience it.”
Sydney is the third city to host Mamma Mia! The Party after Stockholm, which is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary, and London, now its seventh year, collectively clocking up over 1,500 performances and welcoming 700,000 diners.
Tickets for the Sydney experience go on sale Thursday, Nov. 12. Fans can join the waitlist at mammamiatheparty.com.au. Watch the official trailer below.