From West End smash to global phenomenon, Mamma Mia! has been seen by more than 40 million people in over 190 cities across North America, Australia, Europe and Asia and has grossed over $2 billion at the box office worldwide. The original London production opened in 1999 and has been seen by over 5 million people, grossing over £185 million at the UK Box Office.

The International Tour is in its fifth year of touring, having been seen by over 3 million people in cities as diverse as Cape Town, Zurich, Dublin, Beijing, Taipei, Berlin, Paris, Lisbon, Pretoria, Dubai, Copenhagen, Tel Aviv, Riga, Shanghai, Helsinki, Bratislava, Prague, Glasgow and Budapest - and is now on tour throughout Spain. Lighting Designer Howard Harrison and Associate Lighting Designer Pia Virolainen used 1x grandMA full-size, 1x grandMA light and 3 x MA NSPs (Network Signal Processor) as well as grandMA 3D for pre-visualisation.

Pia Virolainen explained the crucial points when adapting the lighting design for the tour:  “The central issue here was to make the show tourable whilst retaining the original look of the show. We reduced the number of conventional units quite considerably and adjusted the moving light rig accordingly. The back cloth is now lit by led battens instead of striplights and ETC pars - this proved to be very successful. It was very important to take care that this version is able to work in the quite diverse venues the tour will be playing - flexibility and time efficiency was a central concern.“

„We specified grandMA 3D because of the tight time schedule,“ reported Programmer Marcus Krömer, “It enabled us to do the focussing as well as programme the changes in advance. The lighting was adapted for the Spanish tour, with the original DHA Light Curtains replaced by Vari*Lite VL500T 80Vs and VL2000 spot/wash fixtures replaced by VL2500 spot/washes. Furthermore the whole finale had to be re-programmed, because the trussing configuration had changed.”

Said Krömer: “The real-time performance, blind programming and attention to detail enabled by using the grandMA 3D was crucial. Especially when visualising the shadow effects and gobos, it was a big help. A special 3D model of the stage design was built and could be animated as well, allowing us to visualise scenic changes.” 

Ian Moulds worked as Production Electrician. PRG UK delivered the lighting equipment for the tour. Stonex Ingeniería Escénica S.A. is the distributor of MA Lighting in Spain.