Laholms Tidning 2025-09-16
By: PER BROLLÉUS
– If we have fun, the audience will have fun too.
Laholms Tidning has met Gunilla Backman and Helen Sjöholm, two of the country’s absolute strongest voices, ahead of this autumn’s big musical – in paperback format.
They do what they are told to do, day in and day out, at the library. Book after book must be cleared out. But one day something happens and slowly but surely the two women begin to question…
That is the basis for the musical that Gunilla Backman and Helen Sjöholm are releasing this fall. Or pocket musical, as they call it.
– The subject is serious, doing this is insanely fun and the music is fantastic, says Helen.
– And it’s actually a theater play, but it’s remade with musical islands, Gunilla points out with lightning speed.
The two are among the country’s absolute strongest and most skilled singers, but they haven’t done much together.
– We swapped roles in an Abba musical. I took over the role that Helen played, says Gunilla and laughs out loud.
It’s true that autumn and the visit to Halmstad are far away, but Halmstad Theatre is not a new phenomenon for the two of them. Both have performed with different performances and with various other artists.
– I have done a few tours with Kalle Moraeus, including with Björn and Benny music, Gunilla Backman points out.
And Helen Sjöholm has, among other things, performed a Christmas concert together with Anna Stadling at Halmstad Theatre.
– But then I have been here quite a lot privately. My husband’s family was always here “down there” in the summers and his grandmother and grandfather are buried in Halmstad. But personally I have no ties to Halmstad.
A lot of singing is promised, singing that becomes part of the story about the two women who “do what someone has to do”. Not entirely illogically, the performance is called just that, “What someone has to do”. The music drives the plot forward and the music is songs that you will surely recognize.
– Songs from Laleh, Albin Lee Meldau, Stefan Demert, Salem al Fakir, Abba and many more, reveals Helen.
– And it’s just the two of us on stage during the entire performance.
Just the two of you? All the time? Busy?
– Well, we’ve decided that we’re going to have fun. And if we have fun, the audience will have fun too.
The musical, written by Per Naroskin and directed by Sissela Kyle, premieres at Liseberg Theatre in Gothenburg at the end of September. Then the tour rolls on and on December 9 it’s time for Halmstad Theatre.
– You know, challenging yourself… It’s exciting, says Helen Sjöholm while Gunilla looks at her and nods. You have to dare.
– And I think this show will attract a younger audience than the ones who probably usually go to our shows. We’re so crazy about this. And working with Sissela Kyle is of course a luxury. She’s fantastic.