On September 12, Mamma Mia! Played its final performance on Broadway. The ABBA jukebox musical has been a Broadway institution for fourteen years, having opened in 2001 and launched (for better or worse) the trend of jukebox musicals on Broadway.

Counting previews, this was Mamma Mia’s 5,773 performance, leaving it the eighth-longest running show in Broadway history. The show has earned $624 million in its Broadway run, the fourth-highest total ever (behind the three powerhouses of Phantom, Lion King, and Wicked), out of a reported $2 billion worldwide. And the Broadway show has been seen by over seven and a half million people  (seventh-highest total ever). It was also turned into a film in 2008, which became the most successful movie musical ever.

The energy in the Broadhurst Theater was off the charts Saturday night, which is saying something for a musical that’s a high-octane party to begin with. The numerous cast members of the show from its prior fourteen years were scattered throughout the theater, along with many other people who were associated with the show. Audiences reported some beautiful harmonizing from the former performers during the big musical numbers, and certainly the entire theater clapped along to every single song. The love the audience felt for the show was palpable, as many of them were Super Troupers who’d seen the show multiple times (it was this writer’s fifth time).

The audience got up and danced throughout the overture, to say nothing of the Megamix dance party at the end. Every single principal actor got huge entrance applause, and when Judy McLane entered (playing Donna, the lead), she received a standing ovation.  The cast made the most of their final performance, with the actors acting sillier than usual and occasionally going off script.  But the show still packed its emotional punch, amplified by the heightened emotions of the closing – there was not a dry eye in the house during “Slipping Through My Fingers,” and another standing ovation after “The Winner Takes It All.”

After the show concluded, lead producer Judy Craymer took to the stage to thank pretty much everyone ever involved with the show, from ABBA’s Bjorn and Benny right through to the press agents. She singled out Judy McLane among the cast, who has been with the show for over a decade (having played Tanya for seven years before taking the role of Donna). Among the stats she was proudest of was that the Broadway show has raised over $2.5 million for Broadway Cares.

Even the cast seemed awed by the crazy energy of the final show, commenting on it at the stage door, where every single one of the actors came out and signed playbills for the crowds of fans awaiting them. It was a sad weekend for Broadway all around, as Sunday sees the closing of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but Mamma Mia! went out with a huge party, as was only fitting. So this fan just wants to say, Thank You for the Music, and happy trails to everyone involved in the show.

Have you seen Mamma Mia! on Broadway?  Are you sad to see it leave?