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ABBA

Mamma Mia! Sweden set to open Abba restaurant

UPDATED: Swedish Abba legend Björn Ulvaeus has told The Local that plans to create a Mamma Mia style entertainment venue in Stockholm, inspired by the Greek taverna in the smash movie and musical, could go global.

Mamma Mia! Sweden set to open Abba restaurant
Björn Ulvaeus. Photo: Jesper Brandt

Ulvaeus announced on Wednesday that the new entertainment venue will be part restaurant, part stage show and part role play. Guests will be able to become the stars of their own personal version of Mamma Mia! The Musical.

Abba fans will be greeted by waiting staff and actors as soon as they walk through the doors. They will be able to listen to music, eat Greek food, watch and, which will perhaps excite fans the most, take part in the show.

"My vision is that this Greek taverna will be like a Mamma Mia bubble where people can just have a bloody good time. I can see the audience in front of me, how they're laughing and singing along and having loads of fun. I want to create the same party spirit that's the musical is so known for," Ulvaeus told The Local on Wednesday.

The stage will be set in a small restaurant on the Greek island Skopelos – where the musical took place – owned by a man called Nikos and his wife. And Ulvaeus promises there will be plenty of room for improvisation and audience participation, but only if the guests are up for it.

"If for example, I was to sit in the audience, the actors would see that 'this one, he doesn't want to participate, but that other guy, he wants to get up and dance'. People should feel safe," he said.


Björn Ulvaeus behind an impression of what the stage show will look like. Photo: The Local


Mamma Mia! The Party is set to bring a slice of Greece to Stockholm. Photo: The Local

Mamma Mia! The Party is set to open on January 20th, 2016, at Gröna Lund, one of Stockholm's main tourist attractions. But if the project is successful, it could expand.

"If it works in Sweden, there is no reason why it wouldn't work anywhere else," said Ulvaeus, but added that even non-Swedish Abba fans will be able to enjoy the Stockholm show.

"The lyrics will be in English and the actors will mix English and Swedish depending on the audience. If it's mostly an international audience it will be in English, because Swedes speak such good English anyway," he said.

The mysterious project sparked a global social media buzz when a website was launched last week, hinting at Ulvaeus' "new entertainment experiment", with some Abba fans hoping the project would spell a reunion for one of the world's most loved pop bands.

"That's probably not going to happen. Although, you never know…" Ulvaeus teasingly told reporters at Wednesday's press conference. But he later let on to The Local that he sometimes does get tired of the never-ending speculation.

"Yes… but what the heck, it's nice that people care," he said with a sigh and a smile.

Mamma Mia! the musical has been seen by 55 million people around the world since its debut in London in April 1999 and has been translated into 16 different language.

The movie version of the show featuring star actors Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried and Stellan Skarsgård was also a global smash hit.

ABBA

ABBA’s first album in 40 years shoots to the top of the UK charts

ABBA's first studio album in nearly 40 years has made it to the top of the UK charts, becoming the fastest seller of the year so far, the Official Charts Company said on Friday.

ABBA's first album in 40 years shoots to the top of the UK charts
ABBA's new album, 'Voyage' for sale in Stockholm at the start of this month. Photo: Jonatan Nackstrand/AFP

“Voyage” by the Swedish quartet of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid racked up 204,000 chart sales in the seven days since it was launched last Friday.

Sales gave the supergroup the biggest opening week on the UK album chart in four years since Ed Sheeran’s “Divide”, and fastest-selling album by a group in eight years.

The last fastest-seller was One Direction’s “Midnight Memories” in November 2013.

READ ALSO: Abba’s new album has arrived – tell us, what do you think?

ABBA, propelled to global fame by their 1974 Eurovision Song Contest win with “Waterloo”, split in 1982, a year after their last album, “The Visitors”.

“Voyage” is their 10th number one album in the UK: only seven other acts — The Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie — have had more.

The group said in a statement: “We are so happy that our fans seem to have enjoyed our new album as much as we enjoyed making it.

“We are absolutely over the moon to have an album at the top of the charts again.”

The 204,000 sales comprise 90 percent physical copies, including 29,900 on vinyl, making it the fastest-selling vinyl release of the 21st century.

The previous record holder was the Arctic Monkeys’ “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino”, which sold 24,500 vinyl copies in 2018.

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