Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus' KRISTINA on NPR

Songwriting team Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, creators of pop super group ABBA, and the acclaimed stage musicals Chess and MAMMA MIA! are featured with a radio segment in advance of the two-night only Carnegie Hall concert presentation of KRISTINA this Wednesday, September 23rd and Thursday, 24th marking the American premiere of the hit Swedish musical in English.

National Public Radio host Scott Simon interviewed the composers on the award-winning nationally syndicated program "Weekend Edition Saturday." Listen now:

ABBA's Back On Broadway, Again

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112991607

KRISTINA, with music by Benny Andersson and lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus and Herbert Kretzmer, and direction by Lars Rudolfsson, stars original Swedish "Kristina" Helen Sjöholm, internationally renowned tenor Russell Watson, Tony Award® nominee Louise Pitre (Mamma Mia!) and Kevin Odekirk (Les Misérables) leading 30 member company and featuring the 50 piece American Theatre Orchestra conducted by Tony Award® winner Paul Gemignani.

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.

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."

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.

Tickets for KRISTINA are on sale at the Carnegie Hall Box Office (57th Street & Seventh Avenue), via phone at 212-247-7800 or online at www.carnegiehall.org.

Visit www.kristinathemusical.com to listen to songs from KRISTINA in English, watch video content, check out photos and production background, and sign up to receive upcoming news.

Photo credit: David Leyes