Post by Ausfan on Oct 8, 2015 11:10:55 GMT
Swedish music icon Björn Ulvaeus revealed details of his upcoming project, Mamma Mia The Party, as he gave the keynote speech at the Euro Attractions Show (EAS) in Gothenburg today (7 October).
The former ABBA member, who has successfully turned the pop foursome, their music and their story into a cultural IP, said his latest project will be an immersive four-hour dining experience in Stockholm.
This follows the success of ABBA The Museum, also in the Swedish capital a project that Ulvaeus spearheaded. It’s a concept that “everyone is doing”, Ulvaeus said, with The Edge from U2 and Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones both visiting the ABBA museum and deciding to do something similar.
The new project, Mamma Mia The Party is “dinner entertainment” – a themed restaurant inspired by Mamma Mia! and set in a Greek taverna.
“We are going to treat people to wonderful Mediterranean food and drink in this taverna environment, and we are going to treat them to a real-time story with characters Nikos, the host of the tavern, his wife Christine, his daughter and other characters,” Ulvaeus said.
“Between courses there will be dramatic interludes where the story is played out. There'll be a little conflict, and hopefully a happy ending. Diners are part of the story, if they want to be. If they want to sit back and watch, they can,” he said. “It’s an evening of great fun in the Mamma Mia! world.”
Ulvaeus said the idea of the party experience – which opens at the Tyrol restaurant at Gröna Lund, Sweden, on 16 January 2016 – came from working with the production for so long and witnessing the ongoing excitement of the audience; this was the next step and a way to “have fun with copyrights”.
“When you have copyrights that are charged with positive feelings and joy, it’s only your imagination that’s in the way of further developing those and taking them into other fields,” he said.
Ulvaeus’s ABBA brand currently includes ABBA The Museum – which receives 300,000 visitors per year – and the musical Mamma Mia!, which has grossed US$2bn (€1.78bn, £1.31bn) worldwide and been seen by 60 million people since its premiere in 1999.
The Swedish sensation emphasised the importance of being protective of the ABBA IP, saying he believes the band’s legacy has been preserved by not letting anything “fall into the wrong hands”. Only once, in 1975, did they sell a song for a TV commercial, he said, which they would never do again.
He also said the ABBA museum is investing in a cutting-edge hologram to replace the current attraction, where visitors appear to dance on stage with holographic versions of band members Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
"That’s going to be enhanced so it’s absolutely life-like. You believe you’re standing beside them – it’s like an amusement park attraction. It will be the most fantastic hologram in the world," he said.
See more at: www.leisuremanagement.co.uk/detail.cfm?pagetype=detail&subject=news&CodeID=318456#sthash.3bqOBB8D.dpuf
ARTICLE 2:
"Mamma Mia - which ABBA Party !"
From cottage to the Greek taverna - in January it will be premiered at the Tyrol at Grona Lund giant effort "Mamma Mia! The party".
- When you get into this, you get the feeling of stepping into the "Mamma Mia!" - The film, says the director Roine Söderlundh.
55 million people have seen "Mamma Mia!" - The musical around the world and the film of the same title has recorded over five billion.
Whether the "Mamma Mia! The party" will also be a success remains to be seen, but their ambitions are in any case enormous. During the summer, the Tyrol at Grona Lund in Stockholm undergone extensive refurbishment and now the premises barely recognizable.'
- It is not silenced quality. Everything is incredibly high standard, from the food to the set design and sound and light, says director Roine Söderlundh.
He is behind the show with writer Calle Norlén and Abbas Björn Ulvaeus.
- Bjorn is very involved, he's here, and agree and he is careful with everything. It's incredibly fun and inspiring to be with him, says Roine Söderlundh.
"Mamma Mia! The party" includes ABBA songs and the idea is to recreate the ambience of a Greek tavern in the film. The plot is not the same as in the musical and film - the party is just a party and the idea is that the audience should be with.
- Guests will get feel very involved, they may be with. They do not set up any teaterlek but they might get to be in a quiz or a guess-intro-racing says Sussie Eriksson, one of the actors involved.
She was also featured in the Swedish production of "Mamma Mia!" - Musical and says it was the music that attracted even this time.
- But also the opportunity to be part of an original set, to be involved in creating the concept and crafting characters, said Sussie Eriksson.
And they have plenty of time itself. It is a complicated production and rehearsals underway throughout the fall. When it is time for the premiere on January 20, the hope is to offer a full evening of rank.
- We have no beginning and no end. It starts when you arrive and ends when you want to go home, you decide for yourself, and the way you've got this story, you've got to sing and dance and you've hopefully had a very nice, says Roine Söderlundh.
www.sydsvenskan.se/kultur--nojen/mamma-mia-vilket-abba-party/
