Nöjeslivet 2025-07-22
By: ANTON LINDQVIST
Helen Sjöholm and Gunilla Backman are embarking on a musical tour in Sweden.
They´ll bring a specially written Abba song from Björn Ulvaeus – which will be performed for the first time ever.
– It’s not that well-known and that’s pretty crazy, Helen Sjöholm tells Nöjeslivet.
Someone’s got to do it! is a “pocket musical” starring Helen Sjöholm and Gunilla Backman. In addition, the beloved actor Sissela Kyle is directing, while the script is written by Per Naroskin. It will premiere at the Liseberg Theatre in Gothenburg on September 26, and then the musical will go on tour through the country. The audience can expect music from everything from Abba to Laleh and Thåström, which creates a broad and dynamic musical experience.
How would you describe what a “pocket musical” is and what can the audience expect from that particular format?
– Yes, we are thinking about that too. That’s such a nice description in a way because it’s a one-act play. That means this isn’t a full evening, but it will be. It’s a packed, one-and-a-half-hour performance. And it’s pocket-sized in the sense that it’s you and me, Helen Sjöholm says (…)
Helen Sjöholm and Gunilla Backman on musical tour
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In this context, it’s worth mentioning that the play was written by Per Naroskin, psychologist and partner of Sissela Kyle.
– We are completely different characters than Helena and Gunilla. We are Felicia and Cassandra. Yes, and we have chosen music that we do not normally sing, Backman says.
– Exactly. And then there is the “pocket” a little attraction to what will be a lot on stage. It’s about many things. But it’s about books and it’s very exciting. This play is nothing like anything we have ever done before, and also musicals. As you said, we have sought out genres and songs that we may not normally sing. It feels very fun, Helen Sjöholm says.
Helen Sjöholm: “Incredibly creative, difficult and fun”
There will be Abba, Laleh and Thåström among others. How do you approach those originals and have respect for those songs, but still make them your own?
– We have Göran Arnberg who makes backgrounds and remakes them a little bit, in tone and in feeling from the originals. But the lyrics are so good that they will be like small bubbles that we enter into our own worlds, says Backman.
– And there we have had to be co-creative. Because the play has existed, and was written for us based on an idea that Pär had before. But in this script we have ourselves sought out the songs that we feel end up in Felicia’s and Cassandra’s worlds. And we are not used to that either, we are used to sitting down at a rehearsal and everything is ready. But here we have had to be part of this process. Incredibly creative, difficult and fun, says Sjöholm.
What attracted you to songs by Abba and Thåström in particular? I think they are such different expressions.
– Making unexpected music choices is a lot of fun, both for your own input into how you make the songs but also for the audience, says Helen Sjöholm, who is also currently on tour with Tommy Körberg this summer.
Singing an Abba song in Swedish for the first time
The Abba song that the duo will perform is Cassandra, which was originally released on the group’s second-most recent full-length The Visitors in 1981. However, the version that Sjöholm and Backman will perform is completely new to the audience. This time it’s a specially written and previously unheard version, translated into Swedish from the English original – and by none other than Björn Ulvaeus himself.
– I had listened to it and had discovered it. It’s an old Abba song that I didn’t know about. It is not that well-known and it was quite crazy. But I heard us sing it and thought that something like that would be fun, since it’s our lowest common denominator that we have both worked with Björn and Benny, both in longer productions, says Helen Sjöholm.
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Collaborating with Ulvaeus
– It was so nice. We asked Björn if we could do a translation of it. Because it’s only available in English. And he did so with pleasure, so it was great fun, says Gunilla Backman.
– It’s called Cassandra, which is my character’s name, and Per Naroskin took note of that. The funny thing was that the line had been in his mind before. It was so crazy that it was like that name and that legend around the old story of Cassandra, who in a future predicts the future, and no one believes her. That it was both in the song and in Per’s idea. It was almost a little spooky, says Sjöholm.
So will it be the first time you hear it in Swedish?
– It will be a premiere with Björn’s new Swedish text. And then it was really like this: Oh, how are we going to find other songs? But Thåström is an Ebba Grön song called Mental istid, which fits into this story in a very good way, says Backman.
This is how the relationship is today with Björn and Benny
While we were still on the subject of Björn and Benny. What is your relationship with them like today, and how has it developed over the years?
– You have a very close… says Backman and looks at Sjöholm.
– Yes, in a way and a long-term trajectory with different projects. So there is still contact. We have experienced a lot of great things together and that still exists. And to be able to have contact with Björn and say: What do you say, what do you think? And get a positive answer. It’s fantastic, Sjöholm says.
– It’s sometimes dizzying when you think. They are so cute and I had the pleasure of working with them in the Mamma Mia musical. It’s a dream to work with them, because they are also such wonderful people, says Backman.
– And quite talented, you might say… But it feels fun in a way that we are doing something like that. A song that most people have not heard, says Sjöholm.
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