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
Prince of Wales Theatre actress, played in "Princess George" and "The School for Scandal". The first hit production at the theatre was the record-breaking comic opera, "Dorothy", starring Marie Tempest, which was so successful that its authors used the profits to build the Lyric Theatre, where it moved in 1888. The wordless mime play "L'Enfant Prodigue" premiered in 1891 which, together with "A Pierrot's Life" in 1897, brought respectability to mime troupes in Britain. George Edwardes' musical play, "In Town", often considered the first English musical comedy, was presented at the theatre in 1892 and was followed by Edwardes' even more successful "A Gaiety