On Broadway
WHEN the Swedes behind a musical that's grossed $1.5 billion worldwide unveil their next project, Broadway's there.
Last Friday, a dozen or so the ater owners, producers and high-ranking industry insiders trooped down to 890 Broadway (Michael Bennett's old building) to see a workshop of "Kristina," the new musical from "Mamma Mia!" composers Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, otherwise known as the boys of ABBA.
Unlike "Mamma Mia!" - which is built around the hugely popular ABBA back catalog - "Kristina" has an original score.
It is, in fact, the first original score ABBA has written for the theater since "Chess," which, despite many first-rate songs, flopped on Broadway in 1988.
Sources who attended the workshop say "Kristina" is a sweeping, operatic musical, much closer in style to "Les Miserables" than "Mamma Mia!"
Based on four novels by the Swedish writer Vilhelm Moberg, "Kristina" tells the story of a family of poor Swedish farmers who emigrate to Minnesota in 1850 to escape starvation.
The books were the basis of the 1971 movie "The Emigrants," starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann.
"Kristina" ran for several years in Sweden and has been reworked in English by Herbert Kretzmer, co-lyricist of "Les Miserables," and John Weidman, who wrote the books to "Pacific Overtures" and "Assassins."
Kretzmer was upbeat about the workshop.
"The mood is as optimistic as I've ever known it to be," he said. "We know what needs to be done [with the show], and we shall proceed on the knowledge we've gained."
Word from people who saw "Kristina" is mixed.
They praise the richly melodic score, which is loaded with the kinds of soaring anthems, ballads and duets that are found in "Chess."
And they say the immigrant story is dramatic and stirring, and has been translated successfully into English.
But at more than three hours, "Kristina" is too long.
"I think it took less time to discover the New World," one source jokes.
"The trip to Minnesota was a long one," says another.
A big question hanging over the show is whether Broadway audiences will still embrace an epic musical spectacle the way they did "Les Miz," "Phantom" and "Miss Saigon" 20 years ago.
Audiences today seem to prefer lighter fare like "Hairspray," "Jersey Boys" and, well, "Mamma Mia!"
"It's very '80s in style," one theater person says of "Kristina."
"It might be too heavy for the pop-culture environment."
Andersson and Ulvaeus, who are producing the show, will be announcing a production schedule soon.
It is likely "Kristina" will have a pre-Broadway run this fall in Minneapolis (where there are still some very good Swedish restaurants) and open in New York next spring.
