Yesterday morning, Wednesday September 16th, the press event for the upcoming concert performances of KRISTINA gave the New York media the very rare chance to have ABBA creators Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus together for the first time in the city since MAMMA MIA! opened in 2001. BroadwayWorld.com's cameras were there to welcome them back to Manhattan!
Their original Broadway MAMMA MIA! leading lady, Louise Pitre, who stars in the two night only Carnegie Hall Concert presentation of KRISTINA joined them to meet the press along with original "Kristina" Helen Sjöholm and Broadway veteran Kevin Odekirk.
Directed by Lars Rudolfsson and featuring the 50 piece American Theatre Orchestra conducted by Tony Award® winner Paul Gemignani, KRISTINA will be performed in concert for two performances only at Carnegie Hall on September 23 and 24, 2009. This will mark the first presentation in English with lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus and Herbert Kretzmer.
Originally titled Kristina från Duvemåla, the musical premiered at the Malmo Music Theatre in Sweden in 1995 to great acclaim from critics and audiences alike. The musical ran for almost four years, winning four Guldmasken Theatre Awards (Sweden's Tony!) and was seen by more people than any other musical in Swedish history.
In 1996, a concert version of KRISTINA was performed (in Swedish) at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota; a part of the country where many of the events in the Moberg novels took place. The Minneapolis Star Tribune called the concert "engaging, emotionally charged and haunting."
Based on The Emigrants series of novels by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg (The Emigrants, Unto a Good Land, The Settlers, and The Last Letter Home), KRISTINA tells the epic story of an extended family's migration from Sweden to America in the mid-19th Century.
Universal Music is proud to promote the concert alongside Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. A cast recording will follow, released through Universal Music's Decca Records.
Best known as the song-writing partners of ABBA, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus are also the composers of the stage musicals Chess and Mamma Mia!
Tickets for KRISTINA are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office (57th Street & Seventh Avenue), via phone at 212-247-7800 or online at www.carnegiehall.org.
For more information visit, www.KristinaTheMusical.com.
Photos by Peter James Zielinski
Kevin Odekirk and Louise Pitre
Helen Sjoholm, Kevin Odekirk, and Louise Pitre
Helen Sjoholm
Benny Andersson, Helen Sjoholm, Kevin Odekirk, Louise Pitre, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Lars Rudolfsson
Benny Andersson, Helen Sjoholm, Kevin Odekirk, Louise Pitre, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Lars Rudolfsson
Benny Andersson, Helen Sjoholm, and Bjorn Ulvaeus
Benny Andersson, Helen Sjoholm, and Bjorn Ulvaeus
Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus
Bjorn Ulvaeus
Benny Andersson
