Mamma Mia will join Anne on Confederation Centre stage next year

One of the highest-grossing musicals of all time, Mamma Mia! will join Anne of Green Gables on the Charlottetown Festival mainstage in the summer of 2016.

They will be joined  by Canadian musicals Spoon River and Belles Soeurs-The Musical. 

The new theatre lineup is always eagerly anticipated by the arts and tourism communities. It comes on the heels of yesterday's news of mixed success for the 2015 Charlottetown Festival.

"Mamma Mia's a bit of a no-brainer," said festival artistic director Adam Brazier. "It speaks beautifully to our tourists and to our local audience, it's a celebratory piece, it's a fun piece, and it cross-casts beautifully with Anne of Green Gables."

Mamma Mia! just wrapped a 14-year run on Broadway in New York City.

Three out of four ain't bad

Brazier defends the fact that the show, being staged in a building known as Canada's national memorial to the Fathers of Confederation, is not Canadian. 

"A lot of times people who are complaining about a lack of Canadian content first of all clearly have not looked at our entire season," said Brazier. "We have to find a balance... This year we offered an entire season of Canadian works and clearly some rang more true than the others."

Mamma Mia's a bit of a no-brainer.- Adam Brazier, Confederation Centre Artistic Director 

Brazier hinted he's counting on Mamma Mia's track record as a box-office success. "Mamma Mia can support Anne and can also support the other new works that we take risks on." 

Brazier said it's always a challenge to decide on which musical to bring to the mainstage to play on nights when Anne is off. Centre staff refer to it as the 'second show'.

'Second show is important'

"The second show is important for many reasons. Not only are we trying to appeal in our peak season to tourists, but our second show actually has a much higher demographic for our Island audience. It's 70 per cent Islanders and 30 per cent tourists. And so in choosing that second show to run with Anne, we want to make sure it's something we believe is important and will speak to the Island, something we think the Island should see and enjoy," said Brazier.

He says the centre spends hundreds of hours each year trying to decide which shows to stage. "We work out how budgets will work, how casting will work, how we believe we can market the show and who we believe we're speaking to."

Those 'riskier' Canadian musicals include Spoon River, which this fall won two Doras — the Canadian equivalent of a Tony Award — for Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre. The 'uplifting hootenanny' features Mike Ross of Charlottetown, known for his work in the 1990s with the band The Jive Kings, as well as for co-penning the 2014 theme song Forever Strong. Spoon River will play at 200-seat Mack theatre.

From Sept. 13 to Oct.1, Belles Soeurs-The Musical will relieve Anne and Mamma Mia! on the mainstage. It's the story of a Montreal housewife whose life is turned upside down after she wins a million customer loyalty stamps from a department store. It just finished a very successful run at Montreal's Segal Centre.

Anne of Green Gables has played more than 3,100 times at the Centre for 2.5 million people and enjoyed a strong 2015 season with some shows selling out the 1,100 seat Homburg Theatre.

The Confederation Centre is offering a special 2016 ticket package: any three Festival shows for $129. Advance sales for members from October 15 to 18, then tickets are available to others starting October 19.