Joop van den Ende, the Dutch impresario who is the sole owner, chairman and CEO of Stage Holding as well as the co-founder of Endemol Entertainment, has a host of overseas producing ventures in the works. Van den Ende, who co-produced this season's Tony-winning Into the Woods revival as well as the hit musical Urinetown, tells Variety that he will bring Maury Yeston's Tony Award-winning musical Titanic and the smash ABBA tuner Mamma Mia! to Germany this season. Stage Holding has already taken over several theatres in Germany, including three in Hamburg, two in Stuttgart, and one each in Berlin and Essen. Both Titanic, about the ill-fated voyage of the luxury liner, and ABBA's Mamma Mia! are headed for Hamburg theatres.

His company also plans to take over the German productions of three hit musicals, Dance of the Vampires and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. Meanwhile, Stage Holding recently opened a London office in preparation of its upcoming production of Contact. Van den Ende also plans to invade the Spanish theatre scene with productions of Disney's Aida and The Lion King — in a joint venture with Disney Theatricals — sometime in 2004.

Stage Holding Group is an international group of live-entertainment companies whose main office is located in Amsterdam. Stage's activities range from theatrical productions and operating theatres to special events, ice shows and concerts throughout Europe, the U.S., South America and Great Britain.