Congratulations Benny!!
14 October 2018, Berlin
Benny with his prize in the category "Classics without frontiers" after the presentation of the "Opus Klassik"
domingo, 14 de octubre de 2018
Benny Opus Klassik
» OPUS KLASSIK 2018
Congratulations Benny!!
14 October 2018, Berlin
Benny with his prize in the category "Classics without frontiers" after the presentation of the "Opus Klassik"
Congratulations Benny!!
14 October 2018, Berlin
Benny with his prize in the category "Classics without frontiers" after the presentation of the "Opus Klassik"
miércoles, 10 de octubre de 2018
"Piano" Deluxe Edition
Now "Piano" Deluxe Edition on november 23 ... with bonus tracks... “Money Money Money” and “Jag Hört” Both songs will also be available digitally from October 12th.
“Money Money Money” — Fan-Edition von Benny Anderssons Album “Piano” mit zwei exklusiven Bonustracks
10.10.2018
Mit der Band ABBA kann der schwedische Pianist Benny Andersson auf eine Weltkarriere sondergleichen zurückblicken. In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat er sich auch als Komponist einen Namen gemacht. Mit seinem im Herbst 2017 veröffentlichten Album “Piano” offenbarte der Pianist eine neue Facette seines musikalischen Könnens – ein Album gestückt mit kleinen, eleganten Piano-Balladen, die dem Klassikliebhaber wie auch dem leidenschaftlichen Popfan träumen lassen.
Zu Evergreens avanciertes, ausgewähltes Repertoire der ABBA-Zeit wie “Embassy Lament” oder “Thank You For The Music” erstrahlen in neuem Gewand.
Nun darf man sich auf eine Zugabe freuen: Die am 23. November erscheinende "Piano" Deluxe Edition fährt mit den zwei exklusiven Bonustracks “Money Money Money” und “Jag Hör” auf. Beide Songs sind ab dem 12. Oktober außerdem digital verfügbar.
Auch beim Opus Klassik wir der schwedische Pianist vertreten sein: Ex-ABBA-Mitglied und Pianist Benny Andersson, der den Musikpreis in der Kategorie “Klassik ohne Grenzen” für sein Album “Piano” verliehen bekommt, wird mit einem Auftritt bei der Preisverleihung im Konzerthaus Berlin glänzen. Zu verfolgen am 10. Oktober ab 22:15 Uhr im ZDF.
https://www.universal-music.de/benny-andersson/news/money-money-money-fan-edition-von-benny-anderssons-album-piano-mit-zwei-exklusiven-bonustracks-248469
lunes, 8 de octubre de 2018
Mama Mia! I'll never stop thanking Abba for the music
Mama Mia! I'll never stop thanking Abba for the music
Judy Craymer created the ‘Mamma Mia!’ musical juggernaut and has remained the driving force through the making of the original musical and two smash hit films. Here, she talks about the project from its roots to its record breaking successes
The Independent
Back in 1982, I was working with Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus on Chess. I was employed as Tim Rice’s assistant. Abba had just disbanded and my first job was to go and meet Björn from the airport. I’d always loved the Abba songs but that was when I fell in love with them. Meeting Benny and Björn and working with them over the next five years I became very interested in those songs, which I think they thought they had left behind, as they were working on other musical projects.
When I was younger I was a kind of Abba fan but I was more into Bowie, and I went through the rock phase of the Led Zeppelins and the Emerson, Lake and Palmers. I loved “Dancing Queen” but I never went to an Abba concert.
Fellow Abba-hating queers – you’re not alone. I can’t stand Mamma Mia!
Yet I was compelled by the songs and by meeting the guys. The song “The Winner Takes it All” was the inspiration for Mamma Mia! and when I met Björn I wanted to know what must have been going round in his head when he wrote that song.
It’s a huge kind of romance/breakup song; a woman having a conversation in her head with a man who has hurt her and let her down or maybe cheated on her. "Tell me does she kiss, like I used to kiss you?" The lyrics are full of hurt; it’s a rollercoaster of emotions. But how do you make a musical out of a song that is taking you towards Greek tragedy? That’s what I love about Abba songs. They take you on this journey, and even if they hit a certain emotional spot, you’re still left feeling in a good mood.
Judy was compelled by Benny and Björn and by the songs they had crafted in Abba (PA)
I felt that the idea of hearing somebody sing that song in the theatre was kind of like “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”; it was "the 11 o’clock number " as they say on Broadway – the second act show-stopper.
Benny and Björn were against anything that would be a tribute or a biographical story; but that didn’t interest me either. Björn was interested at first more than Benny because the musical was to use his lyrics as the source material. Those amazing words took us through the stage show and now two films.
It was funny working on the second film because people would say: “Are there enough songs?” I certainly thought there were, and in fact I think there’s a whole new audience that didn’t know Abba, didn’t grow up with Abba, didn’t know them as a band and yet know those songs as Mamma Mia! And I think that tickles Benny and Björn quite a lot, actually.
The girls haven’t been so involved because Benny and Björn wrote the songs. But Frida has always been very supportive. And Agnetha too for that matter.
Of course, I was passionate and keen about the show, but I had to work hard convince people that it wasn’t just a performance in which people were going to be dressing up as Frida and Agnetha and Benny and Björn.
I knew that those songs worked for two generations. For the younger audience members there was “Honey Honey” and “Dancing Queen”, the dancing songs. And then there’s the more emotional breakup songs, for more mature viewers. I toyed with different ideas, then in the mid-nineties, Björn told me that if I could find the right story he and Benny might be interested. That’s when I met playwright Catherine Johnson and pitched all my thoughts to her about generations, and it had to be weddings or holidays. It had to be something nostalgic that took you to a happy place and she came up with the genius mother-daughter idea; set over a wedding, and the idea of a mother and a daughter and three possible fathers. And that immediately appealed to Björn and Benny.
I hadn’t thought of it then as becoming a film – actually, I thought it might make a small TV film. But I always had a pull towards a stage show. And now I’ve overseen 50 productions.
The show opened in 1999. And the original film we shot in 2007. I wanted to do another film and so did Universal. I wanted Catherine and Phyllida [Lloyd, director of the first film] to be involved, but Phyllida thought it was time to wish someone else well, and Catherine I think felt that she loved it as it was and she couldn’t quite see where another story would begin and end. I was enthused to do a prequel, but if we did a prequel how would we bring our original cast back. That’s where Richard Curtis came in.
The stakes were high because Mamma Mia! had done 20 years in London and the last film was one of the most successful musical films.
I had seen Love Actually. I adored Richard Curtis’s work. If we were to do another film we had to explore different emotions, and he is so brilliant not just at romance but also taking risks on life and loss: at the heart of all his comedies is loss. He thought of this in the sense of going back and forth and to different places, and all he had to say to me was The Godfather: Part II and I completely got it.
Even the music is like The Godfather: Part II; rich sweeping ballads. It underscores. There’s a rich palate of Abba in there.
It was always the intention to use songs from the first film. You have to have “Dancing Queen”. Why would you go and see your favourite band if they’re not going to play your favourite songs?
There were songs that I knew still had the power of storytelling and also the power of comedy, something fun which has come from the stage show, whether its “Chiquitita” or “Take a Chance”.
Curtis said he loved Mamma Mia! and Abba, and though he didn’t have time to write it himself, he was happy to support and if there was a writer he liked and wanted to work with. That writer was Ol Parker, who came on board as a writer at that time (and then later the director).
So it was a matter of making the story work. Meryl Streep had always been very affectionate to Mamma Mia! and being in a possible sequel but I knew she never was going to take on a role as big as the first one. And for her to be part of it, what song? You can’t really top “The Winner Takes it All” from the first film, and she wasn’t going to be running along rooftops and jumping off cliffs singing lots of Abba songs. “My Love My Life” is an incredibly affecting song and I think equal to “The Winner Takes it All”.
I’m going to claim Cher as my idea, though Ol would probably also claim it as his. I’ve always loved Cher, and actually had a conversation with her for the last movie before we cast Christine Baranski, to see whether Cher would be interested in playing Tania then. She wasn’t, but she said to me recently it worked out well this way round. I also felt, if we’re going to do a second film, we hit a high with Meryl on the first and now we’ve got to hit it out of the park. Who is one of the greatest actors who can sing? There’s Cher, there’s Bette Midler and there’s Barbra Streisand. There was always going to be a mother character. Ol wrote it as the ultimate rock chick, and with Cher in mind. But I was always fixated that Cher would be the perfect casting.
She really embraced it, and Mamma Mia! has traditionally had great female roles which we lack in musical theatre and in movies. And we cast brilliant actors. So now we have three generations with Cher and Meryl; Christine Baranski and Julie Walters; and Amanda Seyfried and the Lily James generation – and Cher gets the guy.
mamma-mia.jpg
Cher duets with Andy Garcia in a show-stealing scene from the upbeat sequel (Universal Pictures/AP)
“Fernando” was a favourite Abba song of hers and it was very tempting for her to sing it. I think with this film we could have a wink at the audience with how we use this old song, and it’s a brilliant moment when they discover each other again, and she tells that story through the power of her voice. You feel she was probably rebelling as a young woman in her early twenties, and then probably when she was Donna Sheridan’s mum; hanging out at Studio 54 too much. And now we see her come back in her full glory as Ruby Sheridan – or as Cher, in fact.
It was said that the last film invigorated people, and I think it probably did. We ran all summer, the summer of the financial crash, and it brought people of every age to the cinema. As a show we opened at the most tragic of all times in New York, the time of 9/11. You’ve got this massive show and one of the worst tragedies that you can imagine. How do you deal with that? With everyone involved, and the city in complete crisis, while people have to keep going and earn a living? It was a difficult time but then-Mayor Giuliani was incredibly galvanising to the Broadway community. People asked us: “Are you still going to open?” and the answer had to be yes. Everyone thought about it a lot and I know Phyllida sat and talked to the cast when we were rehearsing and it was almost like a therapy for them. But of course in a way it was the best thing for everyone to make the show happen.
I don’t think there will be a “Mamma Mia 3!”. It’s great that people are thinking that way; I think people feel very safe with Mamma Mia! and this new movie has a lot more emotional heft, and it really makes you laugh and cry: it’s a kind of shared experience. And those songs, of course. They said, back when the show opened: “Oh people don’t always know those Abba songs.” But now “When I Kissed the Teacher” – the opening song on the movie – that’s been trending on Spotify.
Mamma Mia! was way before social media in the case of the stage show, and the last movie was before social media, so it’s a massive tool now for marketing and communication and appealing to a younger audience. So it’s fascinating that I see on social media that there’s a younger audience going: “Please do ‘Mamma Mia 3’!” That’s the natural thing for them. One comment was “Why can’t it become the new Fast and Furious?” which made me laugh a lot.
Judy Craymer was talking to David Lister
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/mamma-mia-2-here-we-go-again-abba-judy-craymer-musical-film-theatre-cher-meryl-streep-a8573726.html
Judy Craymer created the ‘Mamma Mia!’ musical juggernaut and has remained the driving force through the making of the original musical and two smash hit films. Here, she talks about the project from its roots to its record breaking successes
The Independent
Back in 1982, I was working with Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus on Chess. I was employed as Tim Rice’s assistant. Abba had just disbanded and my first job was to go and meet Björn from the airport. I’d always loved the Abba songs but that was when I fell in love with them. Meeting Benny and Björn and working with them over the next five years I became very interested in those songs, which I think they thought they had left behind, as they were working on other musical projects.
When I was younger I was a kind of Abba fan but I was more into Bowie, and I went through the rock phase of the Led Zeppelins and the Emerson, Lake and Palmers. I loved “Dancing Queen” but I never went to an Abba concert.
Fellow Abba-hating queers – you’re not alone. I can’t stand Mamma Mia!
Yet I was compelled by the songs and by meeting the guys. The song “The Winner Takes it All” was the inspiration for Mamma Mia! and when I met Björn I wanted to know what must have been going round in his head when he wrote that song.
It’s a huge kind of romance/breakup song; a woman having a conversation in her head with a man who has hurt her and let her down or maybe cheated on her. "Tell me does she kiss, like I used to kiss you?" The lyrics are full of hurt; it’s a rollercoaster of emotions. But how do you make a musical out of a song that is taking you towards Greek tragedy? That’s what I love about Abba songs. They take you on this journey, and even if they hit a certain emotional spot, you’re still left feeling in a good mood.
Judy was compelled by Benny and Björn and by the songs they had crafted in Abba (PA)
I felt that the idea of hearing somebody sing that song in the theatre was kind of like “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”; it was "the 11 o’clock number " as they say on Broadway – the second act show-stopper.
Benny and Björn were against anything that would be a tribute or a biographical story; but that didn’t interest me either. Björn was interested at first more than Benny because the musical was to use his lyrics as the source material. Those amazing words took us through the stage show and now two films.
It was funny working on the second film because people would say: “Are there enough songs?” I certainly thought there were, and in fact I think there’s a whole new audience that didn’t know Abba, didn’t grow up with Abba, didn’t know them as a band and yet know those songs as Mamma Mia! And I think that tickles Benny and Björn quite a lot, actually.
The girls haven’t been so involved because Benny and Björn wrote the songs. But Frida has always been very supportive. And Agnetha too for that matter.
Of course, I was passionate and keen about the show, but I had to work hard convince people that it wasn’t just a performance in which people were going to be dressing up as Frida and Agnetha and Benny and Björn.
I knew that those songs worked for two generations. For the younger audience members there was “Honey Honey” and “Dancing Queen”, the dancing songs. And then there’s the more emotional breakup songs, for more mature viewers. I toyed with different ideas, then in the mid-nineties, Björn told me that if I could find the right story he and Benny might be interested. That’s when I met playwright Catherine Johnson and pitched all my thoughts to her about generations, and it had to be weddings or holidays. It had to be something nostalgic that took you to a happy place and she came up with the genius mother-daughter idea; set over a wedding, and the idea of a mother and a daughter and three possible fathers. And that immediately appealed to Björn and Benny.
I hadn’t thought of it then as becoming a film – actually, I thought it might make a small TV film. But I always had a pull towards a stage show. And now I’ve overseen 50 productions.
The show opened in 1999. And the original film we shot in 2007. I wanted to do another film and so did Universal. I wanted Catherine and Phyllida [Lloyd, director of the first film] to be involved, but Phyllida thought it was time to wish someone else well, and Catherine I think felt that she loved it as it was and she couldn’t quite see where another story would begin and end. I was enthused to do a prequel, but if we did a prequel how would we bring our original cast back. That’s where Richard Curtis came in.
The stakes were high because Mamma Mia! had done 20 years in London and the last film was one of the most successful musical films.
I had seen Love Actually. I adored Richard Curtis’s work. If we were to do another film we had to explore different emotions, and he is so brilliant not just at romance but also taking risks on life and loss: at the heart of all his comedies is loss. He thought of this in the sense of going back and forth and to different places, and all he had to say to me was The Godfather: Part II and I completely got it.
Even the music is like The Godfather: Part II; rich sweeping ballads. It underscores. There’s a rich palate of Abba in there.
It was always the intention to use songs from the first film. You have to have “Dancing Queen”. Why would you go and see your favourite band if they’re not going to play your favourite songs?
There were songs that I knew still had the power of storytelling and also the power of comedy, something fun which has come from the stage show, whether its “Chiquitita” or “Take a Chance”.
Curtis said he loved Mamma Mia! and Abba, and though he didn’t have time to write it himself, he was happy to support and if there was a writer he liked and wanted to work with. That writer was Ol Parker, who came on board as a writer at that time (and then later the director).
So it was a matter of making the story work. Meryl Streep had always been very affectionate to Mamma Mia! and being in a possible sequel but I knew she never was going to take on a role as big as the first one. And for her to be part of it, what song? You can’t really top “The Winner Takes it All” from the first film, and she wasn’t going to be running along rooftops and jumping off cliffs singing lots of Abba songs. “My Love My Life” is an incredibly affecting song and I think equal to “The Winner Takes it All”.
I’m going to claim Cher as my idea, though Ol would probably also claim it as his. I’ve always loved Cher, and actually had a conversation with her for the last movie before we cast Christine Baranski, to see whether Cher would be interested in playing Tania then. She wasn’t, but she said to me recently it worked out well this way round. I also felt, if we’re going to do a second film, we hit a high with Meryl on the first and now we’ve got to hit it out of the park. Who is one of the greatest actors who can sing? There’s Cher, there’s Bette Midler and there’s Barbra Streisand. There was always going to be a mother character. Ol wrote it as the ultimate rock chick, and with Cher in mind. But I was always fixated that Cher would be the perfect casting.
She really embraced it, and Mamma Mia! has traditionally had great female roles which we lack in musical theatre and in movies. And we cast brilliant actors. So now we have three generations with Cher and Meryl; Christine Baranski and Julie Walters; and Amanda Seyfried and the Lily James generation – and Cher gets the guy.
mamma-mia.jpg
Cher duets with Andy Garcia in a show-stealing scene from the upbeat sequel (Universal Pictures/AP)
“Fernando” was a favourite Abba song of hers and it was very tempting for her to sing it. I think with this film we could have a wink at the audience with how we use this old song, and it’s a brilliant moment when they discover each other again, and she tells that story through the power of her voice. You feel she was probably rebelling as a young woman in her early twenties, and then probably when she was Donna Sheridan’s mum; hanging out at Studio 54 too much. And now we see her come back in her full glory as Ruby Sheridan – or as Cher, in fact.
It was said that the last film invigorated people, and I think it probably did. We ran all summer, the summer of the financial crash, and it brought people of every age to the cinema. As a show we opened at the most tragic of all times in New York, the time of 9/11. You’ve got this massive show and one of the worst tragedies that you can imagine. How do you deal with that? With everyone involved, and the city in complete crisis, while people have to keep going and earn a living? It was a difficult time but then-Mayor Giuliani was incredibly galvanising to the Broadway community. People asked us: “Are you still going to open?” and the answer had to be yes. Everyone thought about it a lot and I know Phyllida sat and talked to the cast when we were rehearsing and it was almost like a therapy for them. But of course in a way it was the best thing for everyone to make the show happen.
I don’t think there will be a “Mamma Mia 3!”. It’s great that people are thinking that way; I think people feel very safe with Mamma Mia! and this new movie has a lot more emotional heft, and it really makes you laugh and cry: it’s a kind of shared experience. And those songs, of course. They said, back when the show opened: “Oh people don’t always know those Abba songs.” But now “When I Kissed the Teacher” – the opening song on the movie – that’s been trending on Spotify.
Mamma Mia! was way before social media in the case of the stage show, and the last movie was before social media, so it’s a massive tool now for marketing and communication and appealing to a younger audience. So it’s fascinating that I see on social media that there’s a younger audience going: “Please do ‘Mamma Mia 3’!” That’s the natural thing for them. One comment was “Why can’t it become the new Fast and Furious?” which made me laugh a lot.
Judy Craymer was talking to David Lister
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/mamma-mia-2-here-we-go-again-abba-judy-craymer-musical-film-theatre-cher-meryl-streep-a8573726.html
domingo, 7 de octubre de 2018
miércoles, 3 de octubre de 2018
Björn Ulvaeus on bringing Mamma Mia! the Party to London
VIDEO
ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus on bringing Mamma Mia! the Party to London
The immersive dining experience opens at the O2 next year
03 October 2018
© Dewynters
An immersive dining experience inspired by the ABBA musical Mamma Mia! is to open at the O2 in 2019 and we caught up with creator Björn Ulvaeus, to find out more.
Mamma Mia! the Party originally launched in Stockholm and offers participants the chance to feel as though they are in a Greek taverna while Nikos and his family perform around them.
A specially-adapted venue within the O2 will host the event, with architects Haworth Tompkins transforming the venue, complete with a fountain, olive trees and bougainvillea.
Bake Off and QI presenter, writer and comedian Sandi Toksvig will adapt the book for the show which has music and lyrics by Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (some songs with Stig Anderson), and a story by Calle Norlén, Roine Söderlundh and Ulvaeus. It will be directed by Roine Söderlundh, with set design by Bengt Fröderberg, costumes design by Annsofi Nyberg, lighting design by Patrick Woodroffe and sound design by Gareth Owen.
The piece, which begins previews on 29 August 2019, is booking until 18 November 2019 with tickets on sale now.
https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/bjorn-ulvaeus-mamma-mia-the-party-o2_47730.html
martes, 2 de octubre de 2018
Are ABBA about to release a new album?
Showbiz › Celebrity News
Are ABBA about to release a new album?
Iconic band tease new material — but don't expect them to perform again
EMMA POWELL
Tuesday 2 October 2018 11:37
ABBA co-founder Björn Ulvaeus has hinted that the band could release a new album — 37 years after the release of their last, The Visitors.
The news comes as the Swedish group prepare to release their first songs in decades.
Speaking to A List he said: “A new album, possibly. Or four songs or something like that — that’s possible. But for us to perform on stage that’s just not going to happen. That’s a definite.”
Ulvaeus, 73, recently reunited with bandmates Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad to write and record new songs, one of which, I Still Have Faith In You, will debut on the BBC in December.
abbamammamiaparty2101a.jpg
Reunited: Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Rex)
He said returning to the recording studio was a “wonderful” experience. “When we were all four in the studio that was amazing because we hadn’t been in a studio situation since the beginning of the Eighties,” he said. “We were standing there in these familiar surroundings and we looked at each other and it took 15 seconds and we were back.”
When is The Masters 2019? Dates and
odds for first golf major of the year as Rory McIlroy rises to favourite
The foursome, who won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo in 1974, sold 400 million singles and albums worldwide before their split in 1983.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again - Trailer 3
Ulvaeus said London was “so incredibly important” to their success and is now launching Mamma Mia! The Party in the capital. The immersive theatrical and dining experience will see the O2 transformed into a Greek taverna as actors perform a spin-off story from the hit musical and film, which has been adapted by comedian Sandi Toksvig, who said she has made a “friend for life” in Ulvaeus.
Asked if the band will make an appearance when the experience launches next summer, he said: “All four of us love London, so who knows.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/is-abba-about-to-release-a-new-album-a3951151.html
Are ABBA about to release a new album?
Iconic band tease new material — but don't expect them to perform again
EMMA POWELL
Tuesday 2 October 2018 11:37
ABBA co-founder Björn Ulvaeus has hinted that the band could release a new album — 37 years after the release of their last, The Visitors.
The news comes as the Swedish group prepare to release their first songs in decades.
Speaking to A List he said: “A new album, possibly. Or four songs or something like that — that’s possible. But for us to perform on stage that’s just not going to happen. That’s a definite.”
Ulvaeus, 73, recently reunited with bandmates Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad to write and record new songs, one of which, I Still Have Faith In You, will debut on the BBC in December.
abbamammamiaparty2101a.jpg
Reunited: Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Rex)
He said returning to the recording studio was a “wonderful” experience. “When we were all four in the studio that was amazing because we hadn’t been in a studio situation since the beginning of the Eighties,” he said. “We were standing there in these familiar surroundings and we looked at each other and it took 15 seconds and we were back.”
When is The Masters 2019? Dates and
odds for first golf major of the year as Rory McIlroy rises to favourite
The foursome, who won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo in 1974, sold 400 million singles and albums worldwide before their split in 1983.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again - Trailer 3
Ulvaeus said London was “so incredibly important” to their success and is now launching Mamma Mia! The Party in the capital. The immersive theatrical and dining experience will see the O2 transformed into a Greek taverna as actors perform a spin-off story from the hit musical and film, which has been adapted by comedian Sandi Toksvig, who said she has made a “friend for life” in Ulvaeus.
Asked if the band will make an appearance when the experience launches next summer, he said: “All four of us love London, so who knows.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/is-abba-about-to-release-a-new-album-a3951151.html
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