MAMMA MIA!

MUSIC AND LYRICS BY
BENNY ANDERSSON
BJORN ULVAEUS

AND SOME SONGS WITH STIG ANDERSON

BOOK BY CATHERINE JOHNSON
ORIGINALLY CONCEIVED BY JUDY CRAYMER

Presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).
All authorized performance materials are supplied by MTI.
www.mtishows.com

BENNY ANDERSON | 1946 Benny was born on 16 December in Stockholm. 1952 He received accordion lessons from his father and grandfather. 1964-68 Benny was a member of the Hep Stars, Sweden’s most popular rock band in the Sixties. During this time, he began composing music. ‘Sunny Girl’ and ‘Wedding’ were huge hits for the Hep Stars. 1972-82 ABBA. 1982-84 Benny composed the music (together with Björn Ulvaeus and Tim Rice) for the musical Chess. 1987 He began collaborating with Orsa Spelmän and recorded three albums rooted in Swedish folk music: Klinga Mina Klockor, November 1989 and Fiolen Min. 1990-95 Working with Björn, Benny composed the music to Kristina från Duvemåla, which premiered in October 1995. 1995 Benny received the title of professor from the Swedish government. 2001 His collaboration with Orsa Spelmän led to the formation of Benny Andersson’s Orchestra, a 16-man constellation with vocalists Helen Sjöholm and Tommy Körberg. Thus far, this has resulted in seven CD albums and several summer tours. 2007 Benny was inducted in to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. 2008 He was appointed Honorary Doctor of the College of Humanities at Stockholm University, and at Luleå University of Technology in 2012. Benny Andersson is married to former TV producer Mona Nörklit. They have one child, Ludvig Andersson. Benny also has two children from a previous marriage, Peter Grönvall and Helene Odedal. He has six grandchildren: Charlie, Felix, Fabian, Malin, Viola and Leonard.

BJORN ULVAEUS | 1945 Björn was born on 25 April in Gothenburg. When he was six years old, the family moved to the small town of Västervik, and this is where Björn grew up. In the mid-Fifties, Björn fell in love with rock’n’roll and skif e. By the early Sixties, he was a member of a folk group called the West Bay Singers. 1963 The group entered a talent contest arranged by Swedish radio. This led to discovery by songwriter and publisher Stig Anderson and his partner, Bengt Bernhag. Stig and Bengt had recently started a record company called Polar Music. The band acquired a new name, the Hootenanny Singers, and quickly became one of Sweden’s most popular groups of the Sixties. 1966 Björn had a chance meeting with Benny Andersson, himself a member of Sweden’s number-one pop group, The Hep Stars. They hit it off and wrote their rst song together, ‘Isn’t It Easy to Say’. Björn recorded a couple of solo singles in the late Sixties, at which point he also started concentrating more on his collaboration with Benny Andersson. 1970 Björn and Benny started releasing records as a duo and also staged a cabaret show together with their fiancées, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. 1971 Björn and Agnetha married on 6 July.

CATHERINE JOHNSON | Theatre includes: Rag Doll, Renegades, Suspension (Bristol Old Vic), Too Much Too Young (Bristol Old Vic and London Bubble), Boys Mean Business, Dead Sheep, Little Baby Nothing (Bush Theatre, London), Shang- a-Lang (Bush Theatre and UK tour) and MAMMA MIA! (worldwide). Also Through the Wire and A Letter to Lacey (NT Connections). Film includes: Catherine wrote the screenplay for MAMMA MIA! THE MOVIE, released in July 2008. Television includes: Casualty, Byker Grove, Love Hurts, Gold, Linda Green, original screenplays for Rag Doll and Where’s Willy? (HTV) and Sin Bin (BBC), the series Love in the 21st Century (Channel 4) and Dappers (BBC3). Other work includes: Creative Consultant on ABBA the Museum, Stockholm. Awards include: Catherine has won the Bristol Old Vic/HTV Playwriting Award, Thames Television’s Writer-in-Residence Award and Thames Television’s Best Play Award and was nominated in 2002 for a Tony Award for Best Musical Book for MAMMA MIA!.