Flashback: Kristina

For the first flash back I choose a story about Kristina från Duvemåla, it stood in the magazine number 42 which released in 1995.

Beside the story we got from Görel the first press photo's of the cast and we were very proud of it.

Kristina från Duvemåla is the new Swedish musical by Benny and Björn.

The musical is based upon the book Utvandrarar by Vilhelm Moberg. They condendes 2096 pages into a musical. Kristina will be the main character in this musical. Her longing to go back to the homeland of Duvemåla, Småland, is the major theme. She doesn't want to leave Sweden, but feels forced because of the poor life she and her husband Karl Oscar have. It's like the most immigrants in those day's, so said Björn. "We had discussed for many years that we wanted to write a musical after Chess" I think we learned from all the mistakes that we made. We know that you need a good story for a strong musical, accoording to Benny. "If we get cold feet, a few weeks before the musicalpremiere then we can't blame the story because that is great". The English and French people often look towards their own literature for ideas and this is what the boy's did too. First they thought about Selma Lagerlöf's Gösta Berling but then their eyes felt on the book by Vilhelm Moberg. This story had the quality Yes, that they were looking for. It not only sounds and tastes Swedish, but it also is an universal drama. We wanted our text to be as close to Moberg's own and try to give it a poetical touch, so explains Björn.

Folkmusic will play a big role.

This is not new to Benny. As he already played this type of music together with Orsa Spelmän. "It must be like this when you hear the music, it must remind you of Duvemåla". The stage design will be done by the American Robin Wagner, who just visited Småland to taste the life there. Robin has worked on various Broadway musicals and on the Rolling Stones concert sets.

And who are the people who will play the four leading roles?

Let me introduce them for you.

• Helen Sjöholm will be playing the leading role of Kristina She was born 224 years ago in Sundsvall, She is a singer and has taken part in several theatre productions. She once performed in the Chess in concert in Sundsvall. Helen did tour with "Just For Fun", a singing and entertaining group, for two years. She also did some radio and tv pefrformances, backingvocal for various artists. She is a talented girl with experience from Jazz to musical theatre.
• Ander Ekborg will play the role of Karl Oscar. he was born in 1960 and started theatrical school in Göteborg in 1984. He has done various theatre shows and has even appeared on television and in a movie. He also has worked on a Swedish music programm for television.
• Åsa Bergh will perform as Ulrika, she was born in 1966 in Stockholm. She moved to Säffle when she was 8 years old. In her spare time she could be found at the local theatre. Later she had a n assignment for 3 years to study as prompter, scene technicer and director assistent. Her first real job was on stage in Stockholm in 1986. She has appeared in several Swedish musicals and play's. She also directed one.
• Peter Jöback has the job of Robert, He was born in 1971. When he was 10 years old he went to the nusic school in Stockholm, following by a study specializing in Jazz. There he learned theatre and singing. In 1982 he had his first part as Kurt von Trapp in the Swedish version of the Sound Of Music. He appeared at various Swedish threatres and he played in Mio Min Mio. he once was nominated foe a Guldmasken, for the best musical artist of the year. Peter did also the voice of Aladin for the Swedish version of Walt Disney movie. And a voice in the Norwegian verion of Junglebook. As a singer he fomed a dance and singing group called Stage Four, and he recorded a solo album. He even performed "More than a game"the official song of the Europian Championship Football in 1992.

Kristina Från Duvemåla is the musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Carl-Johan Seth (Libretto).

The musical will be directed by Lars Rudolfsson. The opening night will be the 7t october 1995 in Sweden, Malmö music threatre Storan.

We are sorry but the list of performances dates was not available at the time of printing this magazine. We will have it in our next issue. But we assume it will run almost every day after the premiere in Malmö. The ticket sales will start on teh 13th of march 1995. After this date you can make reservations.

(As we all know the musical became a hug hit, and Görel gave us even a ticket for the premiere. In april a concert version will take place in the Royal Albert Hall and no need to say it will be a huge success. The performers of the musical are still activ and Helen is even singing in BAO. She is the only one of the old cast who is still involved and so she sing the part of Kristina in Londen.)

Anita

The article in magazine #42 Click on the picture to see a pdf-file of the article (422 kB)