Anybody know anything about "Kristina"?

[Hawker]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 7:28pm

Kristina från Duvemåla ("Kristina from Duvemåla") is a Swedish musical written by former ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus (book and lyrics) and Benny Andersson (music), based on a series of four novels by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg detailing a family's poverty-driven migration from Sweden to America in the mid-19th century: The Emigrants, Unto a Good Land, The Settlers, and The Last Letter Home.

The show premiered at the Malmö Music Theatre in Malmö, Sweden on October 7th, 1995 an received a raptorous welcome from audience and critics alike. It subsequently moved on to the Opera House in Gothenburg and then to the Cirkus Theatre in Stockholm. Counting all three runs, which were almost continuous, interrupted only by summer vacations and hiatuses due to the production's physical moving, Kristina från Duvemåla ran for nearly four years (more than 650 performances in total), making it the second longest running musical in Swedish history. In 2001, a touring concert staging was presented featuring most of the original performers recreating their previous roles. In 1996, the shortened concert version with the entire original cast was presented in in the United States, in Minneapolis, . In 1998, the Stockholm production of the musical won four national Swedish Guldmasken Theatre Awards.

The original Swedish production was directed by Lars Rudolfsson with set design by Tony Award-winner Robin Wagner. It made stars out of Helen Sjöholm (who originated the role of Kristina), Anders Ekborg (the original Karl Oskar) and Åsa Bergh (who created the role of Ulrika). Its original cast also featured musical theatre luminaries Peter Jöback (Robert) and Marianne Mörck (Fina-Kajsa). Replacement performers have included Frida Bergh (Kristina), Joakim Jennefors (Karl Oskar), Niklas Andersson (Robert), Lisa Gustafsson (Kristina) and Christer Nerfont (Robert).

A Swedish Original Cast triple CD set recording is available. It peaked at Nu. 2 on the Swedish charts and won Swedish Grammis Award as a Best Album in 1996.

The show has been translated into English by Björn Ulvaeus and the famed Les Misérables translator Herbert Kretzmer. English translations of individual songs have been presented at various concert performances throughout the last two or three years, mainly by Helen Sjöholm or Swedish musical theatre stalwart Tommy Körberg, always in association with Benny Andersson or Björn Ulvaeus. In March 2006 a workshop was presented in New York starring, among others, Sara Chase as Kristina and Kevin Odekirk as Robert. Benny Andersson has confirmed that there is talk of a fall 2007 opening at the Broadway Theatre; this of course presuming that its current (May 2006) tenant, The Color Purple, doesn't have a longer run than approximately one year from the time of this writing. Andersson has also stated that Alice Ripley has been cast as Ulrika for the forthcoming production, although no other names have as yet been publicly confirmed.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 7:37pm

Seems like you know enough about Kristina as it is. Seriously, I'm impressed that you're keeping track of this. But I doubt that The Color Purple will run less than a year. Its audience appeal is probably second to Wicked.

And I love both of those shows.