Mamma Mia! Trivia
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105 free Mamma Mia! trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
54 free Mamma Mia! trivia questions with answers. Mamma Mia! started as a West End gamble and became a multibillion-dollar stage phenomenon, a record-breaking 2008 film and a sequel that gave Cher a boat and a ballad. This quiz covers all of it: how one determined producer talked Benny and Björn into it, who Sophie's three possible fathers really are, which songs were cut, where the film was actually shot, and why critics were so cruel about Pierce Brosnan's singing. It is built for anyone who can sing along to Dancing Queen without the lyrics on screen, whether you saw the show in London, wore out the DVD, or only discovered it through Here We Go Again. Questions range from easy warm-ups to details only a real fan would know. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles for the musical, both films and the ABBA song, so what you learn here you can safely repeat at your next quiz night.
30 of 105 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which British playwright wrote the book for the stage musical?
Catherine Johnson
Catherine Johnson wrote the book, adapted it herself into the 2008 screenplay and shares story credit on the 2018 sequel.
Q 02Which producer conceived the show after deciding ABBA's catalogue had theatrical potential?
Judy Craymer
Judy Craymer met Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus in 1983 and spent more than a decade persuading them to let their songs become a stage musical.
Q 03The producer first met Andersson and Ulvaeus in 1983 while they worked on which Tim Rice musical?
Chess
The duo were unenthusiastic about a jukebox musical at first but not completely opposed, which was enough of an opening.
Q 04Which ABBA song first suggested to the show's producer that the group's pop songs could work on stage?
The Winner Takes It All
The song became Donna's big second-act showstopper, sung at Sam just before the wedding.
Q 05Who directed both the original stage production and the 2008 film?
Phyllida Lloyd
Phyllida Lloyd joined the project in 1998, a year after the book was commissioned, and later directed Meryl Streep again in The Iron Lady.
Q 06In which year did the musical open in London's West End?
1999
Mamma Mia! opened in the West End on 6 April 1999, 25 years to the day after ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest.
Q 07At which West End playhouse did the show premiere on 6 April?
Prince Edward
It later moved to the Prince of Wales in 2004 and then to the Novello in 2012, where it still plays.
Q 08Critics said the plot resembles which 1968 film about a woman unsure which of three men is the father?
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell stars Gina Lollobrigida as an Italian woman taking money from three former GIs who each believe they fathered her daughter, a setup critics noted the musical shares.
Q 09What is the name of the fictional Greek island where the story is set?
Kalokairi
Kalokairi is the fictional Greek island where single mother Donna Sheridan runs her taverna and where her daughter Sophie plans her wedding.
Q 10In the stage musical, possible father Bill Austin is a writer and adventurer from which country?
Australia
Bill Austin is an Australian travel writer and adventurer in the stage show; the film renamed him Bill Anderson and made him a Swedish sailor played by Stellan Skarsgård.
Q 11What was the name of the girl group the three old friends once fronted together?
Donna and the Dynamos
Donna and the Dynamos, the trio's old act, dig out their spangled costumes to perform 'Super Trouper' at Sophie's hen night.
Q 12Which song does Donna sing about the struggle of running the taverna single-handedly?
Money, Money, Money
'Money, Money, Money' comes right after Tanya and Rosie arrive, Donna lamenting the cost of keeping the taverna going and dreaming of a rich man.
Q 13Which song do Sam and Donna share in Act II, admitting they still love each other?
SOS
'SOS' is the only number Sam and Donna sing as a two-hander before the wedding, each confessing that the old feelings never went away.
Q 21Who originated Donna on Broadway, earning a 2002 Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical?
Louise Pitre
Louise Pitre, a Canadian, had already played Donna in the first North American production and on the first US tour before opening on Broadway in October 2001.
Q 22For its limited six-month Broadway return in 2025, the show went back to which theatre?
Winter Garden
The Winter Garden was the show's original Broadway home from 2001 until its 2013 move to the Broadhurst, where it closed in 2015.
Q 23In July 2024, the West End production celebrated which milestone performance?
10,000th
The West End Mamma Mia! gave its 10,000th performance in July 2024, having closed only for the COVID-19 shutdown before reopening at the Novello in August 2021.
Q 14Rosie propositions Bill in the second act with which ABBA song?
Take a Chance on Me
Rosie chases Bill around the taverna with 'Take a Chance on Me' until the pair are interrupted by the wedding guests arriving.
Q 15Which song do Donna and Sophie share while Donna helps her get dressed for the wedding?
Slipping Through My Fingers
'Slipping Through My Fingers' is Donna's lament at how fast Sophie has grown up, sung as she helps her dress on the wedding morning; Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried perform it in the film.
Q 16What does Harry reveal during the wedding scene?
He is in a gay relationship
The film gives him a partner named Petros, who turns up at the villa in the final scenes.
Q 17At the climax of the stage show, which couple actually gets married?
Donna and Sam
Sophie calls off her own ceremony, so Sam proposes to Donna on the spot and the couple marry to 'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do'.
Q 18Which ABBA hit do Tanya and Rosie use to cheer Donna up after 'Chiquitita'?
Dancing Queen
'Dancing Queen' follows 'Chiquitita' in Donna's bedroom, the Dynamos hauling her out of her misery; the song returns in full costume for the encore.
Q 19Who originated the role of Donna in the West End?
Siobhán McCarthy
She earned an Olivier nomination for Best Actress in a Musical in 2000.
Q 20Which original West End cast member won an Olivier Award for playing Rosie?
Jenny Galloway
Jenny Galloway won the 2000 Olivier for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical as Rosie, beating castmate Louise Plowright, nominated in the same category as Tanya.
Q 24Which Las Vegas resort hosted the show from 2003 to 2009?
Mandalay Bay
Mamma Mia! played Mandalay Bay from February 2003 to January 2009, a run of nearly six years that was then the longest of any Broadway musical in Las Vegas.
Q 25Which ABBA song does Sophie sing as the prologue, posting invitations to her possible fathers?
I Have a Dream
Sophie sings 'I Have a Dream' as a prologue while posting the three invitations; it returns as the show's closing number before the encore.
Q 26Which ABBA member was involved financially in the production and appeared at many of its premieres?
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Lyngstad invested in the production and turned up at premieres around the world, while Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus were involved creatively from the start.
Q 27In the 2008 film, Meryl Streep's character runs a hotel called what?
Villa Donna
Donna's hotel is the Villa Donna in the 2008 film; the sequel has Sophie reopen it as the Hotel Bella Donna in her late mother's honour.
Q 28Who plays banker Harry Bright in the 2008 film?
Colin Firth
Colin Firth plays Harry Bright, the buttoned-up London banker; he returned for the sequel, where Hugh Skinner plays his younger self.
Q 29Who plays three-time divorcée Tanya in the film?
Christine Baranski
Christine Baranski plays Tanya, with Julie Walters as Rosie; both returned as the Dynamos in the 2018 sequel.
Q 30Principal photography for the 2008 film took place mostly on which Greek island?
Skopelos
Skopelos in the Sporades was the main location, with Kastani beach on its southwest coast the site of a purpose-built beach bar and jetty, both removed after filming.