Mamma Mia! The production of the film and the music scene come together

The late and eminent critic Roger Ebert was at least generous enough to open his article on the original film Mamma Mia! admitting that this was not done for him, and that he was not a fan of Abba

My own confession: I am precisely l & # 39; age, sex and sexual orientation for having acquired an aversion to the Swedish glitter quartet. In the 1980s, straight boys did not sing the words of SOS in their hairdressing or choreography routines Dancing Queen during pajama nights. The highest level of exposure that I probably tolerated was the parody Diarrhea of Mamma Mia which was a great playground success at the time.

It was only at the end of my twenties parents' old vinyl collection, that I adored my latent band of Abba-curious. The head on the heels I was. Gimme Gimme Gimme . Thank you for the music . Abba was not only eye-catching. Abba was deep. Melodies that turn left when you expect a right. Immaculate production. Chorus of hearts and awkward bridges.

Then there is the writing. The subtext of self-hatred in lyrics such as "if you are alone when pretty birds have stolen, darling, I'm still free, take a chance on me …" Or the loneliness of scandalous celebrity in the glow of "All I do is eat and sleep and sing, wishing that every show be the last show."

I am very happy to have belatedly noticed what the world knew already: Abba's music is not just cheese junk food for your ears. Or rather, it's a cheese that covers the whole spectrum of what cheese can be, from a strong cheddar like Waterloo (clean, slightly nutty flavors) to a subtle jarlsberg like The name of the game ] (melting, creamy, with a long finish) to a slice wrapped in plastic homebrand as Dum Dum Diddle (probably better paired with wine in cask).

They are one of the best-selling groups in history – ranked at 16 in terms of total sales – and the most successful group from outside of an English-speaking country . The Abba songs are so tight that even the covers of other bands regularly hit the charts.

And 35 years after their last outing, the group reunited in studio to record two new songs to be released in December. They also promised a tour, marking the first time Australians will be blessed with their presence since 1977. Except no. The tour will see them occur only in the form of holograms.

Historically, Australia has had a crush on Abba who is nearing asphyxiant. It has been reported that more Australians have watched a 1976 special broadcast on the group 's visit to our shores rather than going to the moon landing. Fernando holds the record for the longest run at the top of the Australian singles charts

He is different from anything I've ever experienced on stage, seeing the joy and happiness of all who ride and dance.

Sarah Morrison

The legendary Australian tour of 1976 was enamelled from the beginning, with Australians appearing by the thousands at Sydney Airport. Fan hysteria was like nothing the band had encountered. "On the occasion, they caught us in the most unpleasant way and there were times when we cried once in the car," singer Agnetha Faltskog recalls later

. -madness that he formed the basis of the documentary by Lasse Hallstrom Abbba : The Movie . The group never went back to Australia, but in another sense, they never left.

Some of the oldest concerts in the world were born in the void of the absence of Abba, Bjorn Again dating back to 1989 and Babba to 1994.

The 1990s also saw Abba play their part of spiritual godfathers of our cinema, providing the musical backdrop to two films that defined a film: Marriage of Muriel and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, new generation of Australian cinema. The two films then relived as musicals – Priscilla recently completed his last Melbourne race while Muriel returns to Sydney in 2019.

A new production of ] Mamma Mia! opens this week in Melbourne as part of an Australian tour that has received critical acclaim. He has been nominated for the Helpmann Award for Best Musical, while Choreographer Tom Hodgson and Natalie O. Donnell and Ian Stenlake are also honored.

Mamma Mia! was the first musical Sarah Morrison saw in 2001: "It was just me and my mother, I have a brother but it was like a treat, me and my mother who went to the theater. She was vaguely familiar with Abba, having grown up with her mother occasionally playing the band's Gold album. "But I do not think I understood how much their music was, is, will continue to be, I remember looking around me and not understanding exactly how everyone in the audience knew all the words." she plays Sophie in the current tour of the show. In another neat twist, the artist she watched Sophie play all these years ago now plays her mother on stage. Natalie O'Donnell was only 22 when she created the role in Australia, and now she plays the central role of Sophie's mother, Donna.

"It's a real gift to come back to something a second time," says O Donnell. "I'm at a different time in my life and I really enjoy it in a totally different way this time because it's a deeper appreciation, just understanding what's at the heart of the show."

running, perhaps unsurprisingly, to do with the ferocity of our love for Abba. "The love that Melbourne has for Abba is something very … Our last gig, they just kept applauding, we came down on stage to change ourselves and we had people who said" no, you must come out, they are not going away!

Morrison agrees. "The cast members who had already done the show" wait to see the answer in the finale, we can not tell you what it will look like. "And it's different from all that I've been able to to experiment on stage, to see the joy and happiness of all those who get up and dance, it does not discriminate, every age, every sex, everyone dances, marriage, they just want to get involved, they have the impression of being part of it and were invited to the wedding too.

"Every night. Every night … 200-and-something now and it's been every night. "

Anyone who has ever sung karaoke knows that Abba's songs are easy to sing until you really try it … super nice, but the harmonies are notoriously tricky to master.

" For all intents and purposes, they seem to be really simple songs, and then we disassemble them musically and they really are not, "says O Donnell."

"The voices of Agnetha and Frida were extraordinary, "says Morrison," the scope and power that they had, I "to absolutely say that the material was a challenge.The song that really gives me the tingling is Name of the game .This is technically difficult in the sense that it goes through different parts of the voice, but there is a sensation that one feels when one has the impression of having really this is really, really satisfying. "

It is now widely accepted that Abba members were first-rate composers and performers, and pioneered new methods of music production. His status of pop icons can still see their work relegated to the status of "In n & # 39; No matter what kind of music, there are people who are products of one machine and others who really have extraordinary musical abilities, "says O Donnell. "But I do not think it's easy to produce a song that millions and millions of people really love, but in the same way that musical theater is sometimes classified under the theater, it's very easy to – Estimate the commercial things. "

Louise Withers knows the show better than anyone: she produced the three Australian tours of Mamma Mia! The music of Abba is as relevant as ever, says she: "It always surprises me that even though people say that they have never bought one of their albums, they always know absolutely every song and every word. It is timeless. "

Unlike many other similar acts, Abba's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson have always maintained close control of their music catalog and Mamma Mia! could not exist without their agreement, music is not like most jukebox business, which chains the success of an act and pits holes between the dramatic moments of their lives.

Instead, Mamma Mia! has her own story: Sophie wants her dad to walk down the hall but her mother, Donna, never revealed her identity, Sophie invites the three possible contenders to his marriage, romance and drama follow, told through timeless pop songs.

It works, says Withers, because the songs of Abba are themselves stories. "All good musicals have songs that advance the story, and I think that's what's going on. is a big part of why the show has such longevity. It does not hurt. When you go in a song it is an automatic continuation of the story and therefore it makes sense. It's a huge part of why the show is a hit. "

The show is not even set in the period most associated with the group." It is not glitter and mirrors and everything else. It is located on a Greek island and it is about the sun and beautiful white buildings and the history of a family in this environment. There is a bit of spandex coming out and weird platform startup, but it's not about disco and this time. Aside from the pleasure of going out some old costumes from a moldy trunk. "

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Mamma Mia! Opens in July 12 at the Princess Theater

Mamma Mia: Returning again is in the cinema on July 19