Prince of Wales Theatre seating capacity slightly to 1,160 seats and to modernise the theatre's facilities. New bars were added, the auditorium completely rebuilt, the backstage areas refurbished and the theatre's famous tower and exterior completely gutted and refurbished with new LED lighting and a crisp modern finish. The theatre re-opened with ABBA's musical "Mamma Mia!" on 16 April 2004. On 18 August 2007, "Mamma Mia!" became the longest-running show ever at the Prince of Wales, overtaking the previous record held by "Aspects of Love" with 1,326 performances at the venue and counting. The production marked another landmark on Thursday 23 August 2007, celebrating
HMS Prince of Wales (R09) The SDSR therefore directed that "Prince of Wales" would be built and then either mothballed or sold. In 2012, contrary to the decisions made in the SDSR, the Royal Navy published its yearbook, "A Global Force 2012/13", which stated that: "both carriers are likely to be commissioned and may even be capable of operating together". During the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that "Prince of Wales" would be brought into active service, rather than sold off or mothballed. This was later confirmed in the government's 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review. "Prince of Wales" was