'Mama Mia!' To Be Staged In Gwinnett County

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — Confetti filled the air Monday night as Gwinnett's Aurora Theatre announced that a production of smash Broadway musical "Mama Mia!" will be part of its 2018 lineup.

The show will run March 8-April 22 at Aurora and then at Georgia Tech's Ferst Center.

The pop-infused musical was written by British playwright Catherine Johnson based on the hits of Swedish supergroup ABBA. It ran for 14 years on Broadway and has toured in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Aurora’s staging of the show will be "Mama Mia!"'s first local production. A touring version of the show wrapped up a six-day run at the Fox Theater on Sunday.

Aurora announced the show Monday night at a special Blockbuster Musical Announcement Party. While the rest of the theater's 2017-18 season already had been announced, it had withheld the "Mama Mia!" announcement for a big, dramatic reveal.

Savvy theater-goers may have taken a hint from the event's "Take A Chance" Guessing Game which allowed fans to go online and try to guess what the big announcement was going to be.

"Take A Chance On Me" was a No. 1 pop hit for Abba in 1978 and features prominently in "Mama Mia!"

The rest of the shows in Aurora's 2017-18 signature series are:

• "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (July 20-August 27)
• "Abigail/1702" (September 21-October 15)
• "Christmas Canteen 2017" (November 16-December 23)
• "Maytag Virgin" (January 11-February 11)
• "Ripcord" (May 10-June 3)

Gwinnett County's only professional theater, Aurora is located at 128 E. Pike St. in Lawrenceville.

It was founded in 1996 in a converted hardware store and now houses two performance spaces in a converted, 100-year-old church in Lawrenceville's downtown. The theater boasts 4,600 season ticket holders, produces over 600 events annually and entertains 70,000 visitors each year.

Season tickets, which include passes to "Mama Mia!" are available at the theater's website.

Photo via Aurora Theatre Twitter