Abba the Albums present this
pointless factoid:
Mamma Mia is the most missssssspelled ABBA song. It has been spelled
Mama Mia, Mammia Mia and Momma Mia,
Original
London Cast-Mamma Mia as well info on the Broadway staging and
BROADWAY, GERMAN, DUTCH, and SWEDISH Spanish, Korean, Esperanto...Stagings
of MAMMA MIA !
Also info on MAMMA MIA -the MOVIE Updated September 2008
Original London Cast Album-Mamma Mia!, Polydor 543 115 2, British CD November 1999
"This is the musical they didn't know they had written "-(gag me!)!
Mamma Mia is an original musical based on the songs of ABBA. This is the original cast album for the smash hit London West End version that premiered on April 6, 1999 at the Prince Edward Theatre - Edward is the same theater that the West End version of CHESS was performed at. The production moved to the Prince of Wales Theatre in May 2004.
Within two years , the musical had traveled to North America and Australia. culiminating in a successful Broadway premiere in October 2001. Worldwide, it has been the most commercially succesful musical of the early part of the century.... By late 2005 there more than a dozen productions of Mamma Mia running at the same time.
The idea to do the musical
came from British producer and Chess veteran Judy Craymer,
who gestated the idea over a long time eventually convincing first
Bjorn and than Benny that she wasn't going to do harm to their
reputation. The ABBA girls were not asked for their approval though
Frida did actually invest in the musical.
Catherine Johnson wrote the first draft of the the clever script (book) in 1997. With a little work, and some changes this ultimately became the book that was used. British director Phyllida Lloyd was brought in to direct the production. MAMMA MIA uses more than two dozen ABBA songs to help tell a totally non-ABBA storyline about a mother and a daughter.The mother ,Donna Sheridan was originated by ( London) Chess veteran, Siobhan McCarthy*. Her daughter, Sophie Sheridan is played by Lisa Stokke* and musical revolves around the mystery of who is Sophie's father, as well as the dynamics of the relationship between the mother and the daughter.
The "three men -which
one is the father?" aspect of the story bears more than a
slight resemblence to the Gina Lollabrigida movie "Buona
Sera, Mrs. Campbell". The musical's poster/ album cover seems
to channel the movie poster to the 1994 ABBA related movie-
Muriels Wedding..
The actors sing often truncated versions of ABBA songs sometimes timed for comedic effect. The songs used in the musical were mostly drawn from ABBA singles. Almost all of the songs on ABBA GOLD were used in the musical. Indeed , Benny and others complained that "Waterloo" wasn't included so "Waterloo" was added in at the end as encore number. "Fernando" was the largest hit not fully utilized -it is only sung in a quick 10 second snippet. A number of songs were considered and dropped from the musical, most notably, "Summer Night City ", which was the original working title of the musical. Other songs dumped included "I Wonder", "Rock Me"and "Just Like That".
The musical concept didn't sound very promising but somehow audiences have been happy with the stage musical and critics have been no worse than lukewarm. The show's success appears to be due to the witty way the musical was written and staged combined with the already proven appeal of the songs. Unlike Chess or Kristina this is a decidedly peppy,cheerful musical. If you didn't leave the theatre happy Björn will drag you back in the theatre for another encore of "Dancing Queen"
MAMMA MIA'S original commercial success, was also partly due to to the undying loyalty of British and World ABBA fans who traveled to London to see the musical. Swedish fans, in particular, traveled by the thousands. But the musical soon grew to have fantastic commercial legs, and seemed to appeal to lots of non-ABBA fans.
Some of the appeal of the musical was the due to the banality of the characters in the musical, the audience found it could emphasize with the characters, perhaps also because the creators of the musical were much like the target audience of baby boomers. Indeed, Judy Craymer (lead producer), Phyllida Lloyd the director, Catherine Johnson the playwright, and the original star Siobhan McCarthy are all female baby boomers born in 1957. In a sense, they were Dynamo's themselves.
Björn came out of a long period of retrenchment to coproduce the musical with Judy Craymer and Richard East.Björn was heavily involved in insuring the accuracy of the musical presentation, in promotion and looking after his and Benny interests. MAMMA MIA has become Bjorn's baby-his life's work...
Benny Andersson was only involved on a consulting basis, partly because he was too busy back in Stockholm, with his ongoing musical career.
Björn and Benny had little to do with coming up with idea for the musical or with writing the book, which after all were the only new things about the "musical". B&B (mostly Bjorn) simply approved this particular idea. There certainly seems some irony to the fact this is the least interesting of B&B's three musicals, the one with the least creative input from them . will undoubtably remain B&B's most successful musical. Mamma Mia is Bjorn and Benny's third musical , CHESS was their first musical, and KRISTINA FRAN DUVEMALA was the their second musical.
With more than 30 million ticket sales , it seems likely Bjorn and Benny are going to pocket more money from Mamma Mia then they did from their original stint in ABBA.. (Similiar perhaps to many veteran rock artists who find themselves making far greater sums from current day touring than they ever did on their orignal tours or records. )
This cast album was recorded at Angel Studios in Britain and was released on Polydor in November 1999. The album is attractively packaged with lyrics and photos from the musical. All 24 tracks are crammed unto one CD. This is the cast recording that is sold thoughout the world....anywhere that Mamma Mia is staged in English from Edmonton to Edinburgh....the sun never sets on Mamma Mio!!!
B & B were only executive producers of the album. The cast album was produced by Martin Koch and Nicholas Gilpin. (Martin also worked on the arrangements.) It is perhaps logical that B& B were not directly involved with the recording since their was little point in them attempting to recreate what they have done already. (Benny, however would take a more active role in the later Swedish Cast and Movie versions.)
I did read somewhere that Benny wasn't entirely happy with some of the orchestrations done for Mamma Mia though, but, he did ultimately approve of the work that was done. Many of subtleties of the arrangements are still there even if the songs themselves have been chopped up.. . Listen,for example, to "Chiquitita" and you'll find that many of the subtle vocal effects and keyboard bits found on the original ABBA are also found in the arrangements of the musical.
Neither Björn ( no surprise) nor Benny play on the album. (This was one of the first times Benny has avoided playing at least some keyboards on one of his projects).
Musically there isn't much new on this album, with the exception of the act overtures which are simply creative instrumental rearrangments of ABBA music. Some of the dialogue that is interspersed with the songs is included. Musically, it's not really that interesting, Vocally, the songs where the chorus joins in are the most interesting,
The general consensus seems to be that this is one B&B musical that works much better onstage than on record..
There has been a suggestion that -THERE MAY BE Theatrical SEQUEL IN THE WORKS FOR MAMMA MIA., but I haven't heard any more rumours about that.
| Track listing for MAMMA MIA ACT 1 | ACT 2 |
| 1.Overture/Prologue
/ Lisa Stokke 2:56 2. Honey, Honey / Lisa Stokke 2:02 3. Money, Money, Money / Company 3:01 4. Thank You for the Music / Lisa Stokke 3:03 5. Mamma Mia / Company 3:21 6. Chiquitita / Louise Plowright 2:27 7. Dancing Queen / Louise Plowright 3:44 8. Lay All Your Love on Me / Company 3:34 9. Super Trouper / Siobhan McCarthy 3:56 10. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! / Female Ensemble 3:34 11. The Name of the Game / Lisa Stokke 3:22 12. Voulez-Vous / Company 3:29 |
13. Entr'acte
2:17 14. Under Attack / Company 3:11 15. One of Us / Siobhan McCarthy 2:20 16. S.O.S. / Siobhan McCarthy 2:44 17. Does Your Mother Know / Company 3:21 18. Knowing Me, Knowing You / Hilton McRae 2:42 19. Our Last Summer / Paul Clarkson 2:42 20. Slipping Through My Fingers / Siobhan McCarthy 3:36 21. The Winner Takes It All / Siobhan McCarthy 4:08 22. Take a Chance on Me / Nicolas Colicos 3:33 23. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do / Company 2:29 24. I Have a Dream / Lisa Stokke 2:58 |
MAMMA MIA -London Cast album
American edition Decca Decca
731454311526 , USA 1, American Cd 2000
The release of
the London cast album as produced for the American
market in lieu of Broadway cast album. An American cast album
was considered to be redundant, so the London cast recording was
used instead to supply the North American and other English speaking
markets.
| ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST -MAMMA MIA -No cast album released of this staging. .. |
|
Mamma Mia made a successful Broadway premiere ion October 18, 2001 at the Winter Garden theatre. The musical was largely unchanged from the London version. Naturally. None of the London cast was brought over to play in the Broadway version. .Indeed no well known actors were used. French Canadian actress, Louise Pitre was chosen to play the lead role of Donna Sheridan.! Unlike Chess ,which foolishly was sent straight from the West End to Broadway, a number of advance tryout performances of MAMMA MIA were staged first in Toronto then in San Francico Lo Angeles, , Boston and elsewhere to help work out the bugs and promote the musical. The buzz generated helped increase the advance sales so much so that MAMMA MIA had the second highest advance gross in Broadway history. It soon became obvious that there were lot of closet ABBA fans out there in the American public, In one small way, ABBA had finally conquered America. Drama critics reviews for the Broadway version of Mamma Mia were mixed , but knowledgeable fans said the Broadway version actually improved on the London version. The musical was solid enough to become the Broadway hit of 2001-02.However, Bjorn and Benny's bad luck with Tony awards voters continued. Mamma Mia won no Tony awards when the winners were announced in June 2002. However, unlike Chess , Mamma Mia at least had been nominated in the prestigious Best Musical category and four other categories. Mamma Mia was more influential with Broadway investors ....The success of Mamma Mia inspired many more mostly unsuccessful "jukebox musicals" based on the song catalogs of various rock stars including John Lennon, The Bee Gees, the Beach Boys, the Four Seasons and Billy Joel.... Sadly , an actual Broadway cast album was never recorded or released--since a Broadway recording would pretty much be a carbon copy of the London version-albeit with different singers. The play's owners didn't think it worth the additional the expense of recording the Broadway cast. Why lower the profitability of the London Cast album by stealing sales from it? Oh why indeed? |
Original Cast album
MAMMA MIA Special Edition, Polydor 0602498664117,
April 2004 International release
New edition of the London Cast album with bonus tracks recorded in 2004 of the three songs found on the encore, which were not included in the original cast album., partly because the encore was a bit of last minute addition to the musical...
Those songs are - Mamma Mia , Dancing
Queen , Waterloo
MAMMA MIA in German
MAMMA MIA! Original
version des deutschen musicals,Polydor 986 7013-2,
German release June 2004
The German language version, which
was the first non-English version to be staged. It opened in 2002,
the production was first staged in Stuttgart, and then also in
Hamburg -. Frida and Bjorn appeared on stage for one of the
openings...Michael Kunze, was the WRITER/TRANSLATOR OF for German
lyrics
for this staging. Bjorn Ulvaeus actually supervised the translation,
which was possible because Bjorn speaks a little German. Ruth
Deny translated the book. This vesion starred Carolin Fortenbacher
amd Latja Berg,
TRACK LISTING !!!!!
1. Mich trägt mein Traum Prolog
2. Honey, Honey
3. Money, Money, Money
4. Danke für die Lieder
5. Mamma Mia
6. Chiquitita
7. Dancing Queen
8. Leg dein Herz an eine Leine
9. Souper Trouper
10. Gib mir, Gib mir, Gib mir!
11. Was ist das für ein Spiel?
12. Voulez-Vous
13. Entr'Acte
14. Unter Beschuss
15. Einer von uns
16. S.O.S.
17. Wenn das Mami wüsst
18. Ich bin Ich, Du bist Du
19. Unser Sommer
20. Durch meine Finger rinnt die Zeit
21. Der Sieger hat die Wahl
22. Komm un wag's mit mir
23. Ich will, Ich will, Ich will, Ich will, Ich will
24. Mich trägt mein Traum
MAMMMMMMA MIA in Dutch
MAMMA MIA Dutch Cast album CD Released Summer 2004
Between November 2003 and February
2006 the Dutch staged their very own
version of Mamma Mia in their own language.. It was originally
supposed to be the first non-English staging, but delays in the
Dutch production meant that the German version came out first.
The Dutch are among the world's
most loyal ABBA fans and this proved to be a good market for the
musical. This album spent three weeks at the top of Netherlands
album record chart...
The Dutch cast album contains Dutch versions of ABBA songs translated
by Coot van Doesburgh. The book was translated by Daniel Cohen,
This version starred Simone Kleinsma.
1. Ouverture / Prologue
2. Honey, Honey|
3. Money, Money, Money
4 .Dank Je Voor De Liedjes
5. Mamma Mia
6. Chiquitita
7. Dancing Queen
8. Spaar Al Je Liefs Voor Mij
9. Super Trouper
10. Geef Me Geef Me Geef Me!
11. Als 'k Maar Weet Hoe Het Heet
12. Voulez-Vous
13. Entr'Acte
14. Een Offensief
15. Een Van Ons
16. S.O.S.
17. Weet Je Moeder Dat
18. Zo Ben Ik, Zo Ben Jij
19. Onze Zomer
20. 't Glipt Me Door Mijn Vingers
21. De Winnaar Heeft De Macht
22. Pak Je Kans Bij Mij
23. Ja Ik Wil, Ik Wil, Ik Wil, Ik Wil, Ik Wil
24. Ik Heb Een Droom
MAMMA MIA IN SPANISH..
Mamma Mia El musical basado en las conciones de ABBA, Universal 602498729410, Spanish CD 2005
This was staged in Madrid Spain
in November 1994 Oh my god!!!!!AY
CARUMBA!!!!!!The translations used here are obviously not based
on any
of the original fifteen Spanish versions.,but are new lyric translations
by Albert Mas Griera. The was translated by Juna Martinez Moreno.
Nina starred as Donna,
Track listing :Obertura/Prologo, Honey Honey, Money Money Money, Gracias Por Dejarme Cantar Canciones (Thank You For The Music), Mamma Mia, Chiquitita, Dancing Queen, Fija Tu Amor En Mi (Lay All Your Love On Me), Super Trouper, Dame! Dame! Dame! (Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!), Como Puedo Jugar (The Name Of The Game), Voulez-Vous, Entreacto, No Habra Cuartel (Under Attack), Quien A Veces Llora (One Of Us), No Lo Ves (SOS), Sabe Tu Mama Donde Estas? (Does Your Mother Know), Para Mi Para Ti (Knowing Me Knowing You), Un Verano (Our Last Summer), Siento Que Se Aleja (Slipping Through My Finders), Va Todo Al Ganador (The Winner Takes It All), Te Has Fijado En Mi (Take A Chance On Me), Que Si Que Si (I Do I Do), Ayer Sone (I Have A Dream)
MAMMA MIA PA SVENSKA MAMMA MIA IN SWEDISH
ABBA REUNION at Febriuary 2005 Stockholm performance - Mamma Mia
Various combinations of 1,2. or three ABBA members (but never four at one time,)attended the premeires' of many of the various PRODUCTIONS of Mamma Mia, between 1999 and 2004. Finallly for the first time ,A,B,B & F all attended the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia in 2005...They did not appear on stage together., but they all attended the premeire.
Original Cast Album-MAMMA
MIA Swedish production, Polydor
0602498720257, June 2005 Swedish CD
Remarkably, or not Mamma Mia had yet to be staged in Sweden, prior
to
2005, so here it comes, in a Swedish language version ... ABBA
originally recorded only a handful of their songs into Swedish-so
this
will be the first time many of the songs (especially the later
ones)
have been presented in the Swedish language...The Swedish version
of the
song lyrics were written by Niklas Strömstedt along with
some help and supervision from Bjoen Ulvaeus.
Peter Dalle translated the spoken
parts in "Mamma Mia" into Swedish. The
musical premiered at Stockholm's Cirkus in Stockholm in February
2005.
It closed in 2007. Both Bjorn and Benny had some involvement with
this production. This version stars Gunilla Backman as Donna and
Nina
Lundsie as Sofie. Old ABBA bass player, Rutger Gunnarsson plays
on the
album.The cast album was produced by Niklas Strömstedt and
Engineered by
Bernard Löhr. The cast album was recorded in March and April
of 2005.
This album was a Music AB production
that was distributed by Universal
Music In Sweden only ! IT is of interest to note that Gunilla
Backman also appeared in the Danish cats version of Chess,
making her the only singer to appear on both Chess, and
Mamma Mia cast albums.
The Stockholm production is notable for having featured a near ABBA REUNION at Febriuary 2005 Stockholm performance - Mamma Mia
Various combinations of one,two
or three ABBA members (but never four at one time,) attended the
premiere of many of the various PRODUCTIONS of Mamma Mia, between
1999 and 2004. Finally for the first time ,A,B,B & F all attended
the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia in 2005...They did not appear
on stage together, but they all attended the premiere.
1. Overture
2. Jag har en dröm (I have a dream)
3. Honey, Honey
4. Money, Money, Money
5. Tack för alla sånger (Thank you for the music)
6. Mamma Mia
7. Chiquitita
8. Dancing Queen
9. I tryggt förvar hos mig (Lay all your love on me)
10. Super Trouper
11. Säg OK eller nej (The name of the game)
12. Voulez-Vous
13. Entracte/Under attack
14. En av oss (One of us)
15. S.O.S.
16. Väntar inte mamma på dig (Does your mother know)
17. Jag är jag, du är du (Knowing me, knowing you)c
18. Sista sommarn (Our last summer)
19. Kan man ha en solkatt i en bur (Slipping through my fingers)
20. Vinnaren tar allt (The winner takes it all)
21. Tänk, det känns som vi (Take a chanCE on me)
22. Jag vill, jag vill, jag vill (I do, I do, I do, I do, I do)
23. Jag har en dröm (I have a dream)
24. Waterloo
Mamma Mia! 5th Anniversary Special Edition, Decca Broadway,
American CD/DVD 2 October 17, 2006
Decca Broadway offers up this CD/DVD
which includes another repackaging
of the original 1999 LONDON cast album -- as well as three finale
bonus
audio tracks which are being released in the U.S. for the first
time
including "Mamma Mia", "Dancing Queen" and
"Waterloo."
There is also a deluxe booklet featuring
cast photos, a behind-the
scenes-documentary hosted by original Broadway cast members Joe
Machota
and Tin
a Maddigan, some opening night footage, interviews with producer
Judy Craymer (lord help us) , director Phyllida Lloyd (augh) librettist
Catherine Johnson (my god) and the two old bearded guys, Benny
Andersson
and Björn Ulvaeus (double augh!). The DVD has some previously
seen ABBA
concert clips and performance footage of different productions
of the
show from around the world. The interviews with Bjorn and Benny
are
minimal and the whole package is not worth getting if you already
own
the original cast album. However, if don't already have a Mamma
Mia cast
album and want one, this might be the version to get.
Act 1
1. Overture / Prologue
2. Honey Honey
3. Money, Money, Money
4. Thank You For The Music
5. Mamma Mia
6. Chiquitita
7. Dancing Queen
8. Lay All Your Love On Me
9. Super Trouper
10. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
11. The Name Of The Game
12. Voulez-Vous
Act 2
13. Entr'Act
14. Under Attack
15. One Of Us
16. S.O.S.
17. Does Your Mother Know
18. Knowing Me, Knowing You
19. Our Last Summer
20. Slipping Through My Fingers
21. Winner Takes It All
22. Take A Chance On Me
23. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
24. I Have A Dream
Finale bonus tracks recorded 2004
25: Mamma Mia
26. Dancing Queen
27. Waterloo
Disc 2 - DVD:
1. Overture/Prologue
2. Waterloo
3. Dancing Queen
4. SOS
5. The Winner Takes It All
6. The Winner Takes It All
7. Interview With Bjorn from Week in the West End
8. Catherine Interview
9. Phyllida Interview
10. Entr'act
11. Mamma Mia
12. Waterloo
13. Lay All Your Love on Me
14. Super Trouper
15. Thank You for the Music
16. Dancing Queen
17. Money, Money, Money
18. Voulez-Vous
19. Take a Chance on Me
20. Dancing Queen
21. Dancing Queen
22. Slipping Through My Fingers
23. I Have a Dream
24. Dancing Queen
25. Thank You For The Music
26. Knowing Me, Knowing You
27. Money, Money, Money
28. Dancing Queen
Original Cast -Mamma
Mia (Korean Cast version), Universal Music
DC9486/530 58-5 (South Korea) , Korean CD Late November 28, 2007
This is the original cast album from the South Korean staging
of Mamma
Mia. the Korean version has played more than 500 times in limited
runs
in Seoul, Daegu and Seongnam since January 2004. Performers include
Lee
Hakmin, Park Ji-il, Lee Jung-ryul, Lee Jungmi, Choi Jungwon ,
Sung
Kiyoun , Lee Kyoungmi, and Jon Sookyung. The cast album was apparently
recorded live and sung in the Korean language. The lyrics were
translated by Jin-Sub Han and the book was translated by Chul-Lee
Kim and Soo-Jeong Seong. This version starred Moon-Hee Kynung
Available from YesASia.com ( thanks to Ryan Cameron, Abbamail)
Track listing
Overture/prologue
Honey Honey,
Money money money
Thank you for the music
Mamma mia,
Chiquitita
Dancing Queen,
Lay all your love on me
Super trouper,
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!,
The name of the game
Voulez-Vous Entr'acte
Under attack
One of us
SOS
Does your mother know
Knowing me knowing you
Our last summer
Slipping through my fingers
The winner takes it all
Take a chance on me
I do X 5
I have a dream
Other stagings :
There have been
also long term Mamma Mia stagings in Russia (2006), Japan (2005),
Belgium(2006),Australia (2001),and Las Vegas(2003). An international
tour began in Spetember 2004 that took in South Africa, Ireland,
France and other locales.....None of these other stagings have
been recorded as cast albums....As of 2007 at least 30,000,000
people had seen the musical at over 130 locations and over a billion
dollars worth of tickets had been sold.
MAMMA MIA in Klingonese...
Could Mamma Mia be the next big Klingon opera? The answer sadly is no... We asked Bjorn Ulvaeus or somebody who had some kind of silly looking beard and he replied . "Rumours of a possible staging of Mamma Mia in Klingon are totally false..The makeup costs alone would eat too heavily into the profit margin."
|
MAMMA MIA -the Movie version 2008 Universal Pictures
presents Mamma Mia (the movie version),Premiered . The movie version stars
Meryl Streep,Amanda Seyfried and Pierce Brosnan. Original Soundtrack Recording, Mamma Mia-Decca
label 177 418-4 , The movie soundtrack album was released in
the summer, around the The music was recorded before the movie was
filmed with the vocals sung in London by the original actors
in the movie. Some live vocals that were recorded during the Honey Honey |
MAMMA MIA -the Book 2006 HOW CAN I RESIST YOU "written by" Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Judy Craymer...
A readable cofee table book about the Mamma Mia musical that is split into two components.
The entire text of the book, is interviews conducted by Richard Todd. The first half of the book focuses on ABBA and the writing process used by Bjorn and Benny to compose various ABBA songs, with emphasis on the songs that are heard in MAMMA MIA. The second half of the book focuses on the production of the musical itself.
|
MAMMA MIA on VIDEO and DVD..... These two official ABBA documentaries both feature scenes from both in front of and behind the curtains of MAMMA MIA . THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL 2002 DVD Release Swedish/British video production . International TV special /original VHS release in 1999 Thorginal 1999 West End staging of MAMMA MIA is featured here .... Chris Hunt's intelligent TV documentary was produced with the cooperation of the members of ABBA and thus features some surprisingly candid exclusive interviews with Frida, Benny and Bjorn. As a whole the documentary is another disappointment is Agnetha's appearances which are merely her reading from her biography-"As I Am". The documentary includes snippets of a number of rare ABBA tracks and performances. There are number of interesting moments on this special by my favorite is when they show an aerial view of the Stockholm Archiplego coupled with an instrumental piano solo by Benny. This was released throughout the world as a broadcast TV documentary. Interestingly, different edits were used in different countries. This documentary is available on VHS video in most places and on DVD in some places. This documentary was remade in a totally new version in 2004 for SUPER TROUPERS DVD...Super Troupers does much better with showing us glimpses of the real ABBA members, but The Winner Takes It all tells the ABBA story more completely. ABBA- SUPER TROUPERS documentary International Release September 2004 The thing is subtitled " A Celebratory Film from Waterloo to MAMMA MIA! 30 years of music" !!!!!!!! Directed by Chris Hunt THE DVD is a TV documentary of ABBA narrated by English record producer, Pete Waterman which includes lots of material about Mamma Mia fifth anniversary ..The documentary is certainly fairly well done, and very interesting but there is considerable rehashing of material from the equally good THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL documentary, as well as lots of footage that can be found on ABBA-The Movie, ABBA-The Concert as well as the official promo videos found THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION...Still there is certainly enough new stuff to justify ABBA fans purchasing this DVD... Essentially, THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL has been revised and redone with lots of new interviews with Bjorn and Bjorn and Bjorn, no I mean, Bjorn, Frida and Agnetha, a lot of new Mamma Mia musical stuff , and some new narration by Pete Waterman...This time, they even dragged out Owe Sandstrom and his costumes... Best parts of the video-some of the clips not seen in previous ABBA bios-notably-a sexy TV version of "So Long', a full length TV version of "People Need Love" which was their first TV appearence performing an ABBA record.. A longer clip of Agnetha rehearsing Jesus Christ Superstar, a outake clip from the original recording of "Dancing Queen' and all the new and very relaxed Agnetha interviews where she talks in both in English Swedish.. Frida singing and dancing at the fifth anniversary perrformance of Mamma Mia...an impromptu performance Benny playing the piano intro to "I have A Dream". The worst parts of the special are Pete Waterman -he is a little embarrasing. There is a serious factual error towards the end when it is stated that ABBA announced they were breaking up in 1981 (Actually, ABBA never actually publicly announced they were breaking up and they worked together till December 1982.) ) A horrible omission is that there is absolutely no mention of ABBA's manager, Stig Anderson in the documentary -which seems quite petty, and refererences to Kristina and Chess are quite non-existent...
Mamma Mia! 5th Anniversary
Special Edition, Decca Broadway, American This release listed above has scenes from the musical. And here is the movie itself MAMMA MIA! THE MOVIE DVD and Blu-ray Disc Projected Release
UK 24 November 2008; USA 25 November 2008 |
To go elsewhere
* Björn and Benny (1969-)Lycka,Musicals,80's,90's
Montief's handy guide to ABBA the Albums
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| MONTIEF'S HANDY GUIDE TO ABBA THE ALBUMS!!! |
| ABBA THE ALBUMS -SITE INDEX -REVIEWS OF ALBUMS SORTED BY ARTIST |
|
ABBA THE ALBUMS - GROUP & SOLO ALBUM REVIEWS LISTED IN ODER OF YEAR OF RELEASE Chart revised July 2006 by Montief OR SOMEONE WHO LOOKS LIKE HIM... |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Powered by jb
------------------------------------------------------------------------