For Abba followers, 2024 will mark a significant milestone: 50 years because the Swedish quartet of Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus gained Eurovision and went on to world superstardom with hits resembling “Mamma Mia,” “Tremendous Trouper” and “Dancing Queen.”
And since Eurovision — the exuberantly kitsch annual track contest organized by the European Broadcasting Union since 1956 — is to be held subsequent 12 months in Malmo, Sweden, there may be positive to be some type of tribute.
“A half a century in the past we stood on the stage considering, ‘Oh, possibly we’ll find yourself at No. 6 and they’ll discover us in Germany and possibly even in England,” Mr. Ulvaeus mentioned with a chuckle throughout a video name. “I nonetheless keep in mind that second once I wakened at 4 within the morning afterwards after which within the silence, it form of sunk in that possibly that is the beginning of one thing huge.”
Tickets to the 9 stay exhibits to be held in Malmo throughout Eurovision week haven’t gone on sale but, however there are various different methods to buy Abba this vacation season — a number of of them within the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
At Abba the Museum within the Djurgarden neighborhood, tickets for grownup admission are 200 Swedish krona, or $19. And its on-line store has a variety of merchandise, from white and blue “Mamma Mia!” mugs to Abba albums in vinyl.
“I didn’t know that they’d gained Eurovision till after seeing the film,” mentioned Erica Patino, who was visiting the museum from Manila. She was speaking about “Eurovision Tune Contest: The Story of Hearth Saga,” a 2020 Netflix comedy starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams that started with footage of Abba’s 1974 win with “Waterloo.”
The museum chronicles every member’s childhood by means of to the band’s breakup in 1982 and the divorces of the 2 {couples} (Mr. Andersson and Ms. Lyngstad have been married, as have been Mr. Ulvaeus and Ms. Faltskog).
It may be downright schmaltzy: You’ll be able to take the stage because the band’s fifth member to bounce and sing to both “Mamma Mia!” or “Dancing Queen” and faux to be recording songs resembling “Chiquitita” in a reproduction of the band’s authentic recording studio.
However the museum additionally has compelling sections, just like the recreation of Ms. Faltskog’s dwelling on the time of her divorce from Mr. Ulvaeus and an audio tour through which Mr. Ulvaeus talks candidly about how he discovered it tough to see his youngsters rising up and turning into impartial after the wedding ended.
With Dinner
Your Abba fan might not be the dinner theater kind, however there may be “Mamma Mia — The Social gathering” — with performances working now in a number of European cities.
Throughout its 2016-20 run in Stockholm, the present drew greater than 350,000 folks. And whereas Mr. Ulvaeus, the present’s govt producer, mentioned it’s not scheduled to reopen right here till February, it’s being staged by means of Dec. 16 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and in an open-ended run on the O2 enviornment in London (tickets begin at 99 kilos, or $121).
It’s scheduled to open on Sept. 18 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Copenhagen and some different so-far-undisclosed cities are deliberate for 2025. “We’re actively rolling it out proper now,” Mr. Ulvaeus mentioned.
Viewers members are led to tables scattered round what is meant to be a Greek taverna on Kalokairi, the fictional island of the “Mamma Mia!” musical and flicks. Throughout a four-course meal — which, after all, contains Greek salad — there’s a scripted efficiency with a smattering of Abba hits resembling “S.O.S.” and “I Have a Dream.” After dessert, the night turns into one thing of a tribute live performance from the solid and stay band, earlier than they make method for a full-on dance occasion with recorded music of Abba songs and Nineteen Seventies disco hits.
And ‘Abbatars’
Additionally in London there may be the Abba Voyage live performance that includes 3-D avatars (referred to as Abbatars), which opened in mid-2022 and is promoting tickets by means of November 2024 (beginning at £77). The 90-minute live performance, held on the purpose-built Abba Enviornment on the grounds of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, portrays the band members as they appeared in 1979.
The present, whose identify was taken from Abba’s November 2021 album “Voyage,” concerned filming the band members in movement seize fits and utilizing physique doubles to imitate their actions from archival live performance footage. Reported to value $175 million, the present is marketed as one of the crucial costly productions in music historical past.
(If a London journey isn’t attainable, there may be the Abba Voyage on-line store, promoting presents like socks with photographs of every of the 4 band members and a purple, inexperienced and white Scandinavian sweater with the Abba brand knitted into the entrance.)
The stage musical “Mamma Mia!” additionally continues, with the worldwide touring firm showing in Mumbai from Nov. 29 to Jan. 7 and a French-language manufacturing taking part in in Paris since October.
The present, which Mr. Andersson and Mr. Ulvaeus helped develop, has been staged in additional than 450 cities and has grossed greater than $4 billion because it premiered in London in 1999.
If the stage productions are too distant, there are all the time the flicks — with Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth dancing and singing their method round fictional Kalokairi — accessible for buy or streaming. (There was hypothesis a few third movie. And whereas Mr. Ulvaeus wouldn’t rule it out, he mentioned it could be “a matter of somebody arising with an awesome thought.”)
The place It Started
And, after all, there may be Eurovision, the place all of it started.
Based on Martin Osterdahl, the occasion’s govt supervisor, tickets to the ultimate night can be in nice demand (2023 costs topped out at greater than €425), so it may be simpler to strive for the semifinals and even the early rounds.
However would possibly Abba be on the finale?
Mr. Osterdahl would say solely that “the Swedish producers haven’t disclosed any details about the present content material” — though, particularly as it’s scheduled in Sweden, there will definitely be nods to the anniversary.
Mr. Ulvaeus was considerably extra forthcoming. “I believe the 4 of us will lean again and luxuriate in, greater than being an lively a part of it,” he mentioned.
“We thought it was the top of it after we cut up up, however I believe this subsequent 12 months can be lastly once I possibly perceive that what has occurred is miraculous and completely unimaginable.”