Photo & © Sundsvalls Tidning, Maria Eilertsen
Sundsvalls Tidning 2025-10-30
By: SUSANNE HOLMLUND
Photo: MARIA EILERTSEN
Naturally, the very first Kristina from Duvemåla had to see the new production — especially since it’s being staged in her hometown. Helen Sjöholm, who embodied the role for nearly five years, attended the Sundsvall version on Wednesday evening.
“I’d better bring some handkercheifs — I’ll be moved on so many levels,” she said beforehand.
“It was so beautiful. I feel fulfilled and a little overwhelmed,” she said afterwards.
In the foyer of Tonhallen, a photo of today’s Kristina, Tuva B Larsen, shows her seated on the iconic swing.
“The swing is there!” the first Kristina exclaims, when we meet her earlier that day before the performance.
When she first swung on stage in Malmö, where the musical premiered in 1995, she had a 15-20 meter sprint to reach it.
“It was far and I was to leap onto it. It gave such a childlike, pure feeling — we captured how young they really are, just kids,” she recalls.
“Malmö Opera’s stage is the largest in northern Europe and it added an epic quality to the story. The vulnerability became so palpable, even when you were doing something alone.”
Inside Tonhallen, Sjöholm immediately admires the new stage design.
“Our production was magical in its simplicity, and I see that here too — the wooden floor, the fields of grain. We had that as well, the grain is a symbol of survival.”
“But we had a different color setting. We had a wonderful costume designer who said, ‘I see Kristina as a big pumpkin.’ I wore orange, and us farmers were dressed in browns and oranges. Those who were travelling were blue, like the sea.”
Sjöholm got the role at the end of 1994, still relatively unknown at the time. She performed Kristina until 1999 — in Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm.
“I knew that if I said yes, I’d have to give it everything I had. I’d heard some of the music and knew there was an incredible power in it.”
“Kristina became my school where I learned so much. There were always new emotions to explore and improve. Not a single day passed without a new idea.”
It was intense work. She remembers the moment the team realized the musical was too long and had to be shortened — forcing them to reverse they things they’d learned. That’s when the tears came.
“Strangely, I never got tired of the role. Just tired. We performed five days a week for four and a half years, and you had to give a hundred percent every time. My mom said, ‘Aren’t you ever going to rest? You look more and more exhausted.’”
“Sometimes you go into a tunnel and do only one thing. I missed a lot, but I also gained a lot,” she reflects.
No one could have predicted Kristina from Duvemåla would become the phenomenon it did, not even Helen Sjöholm.
“All I knew was that I’d gotten a name connected to beautiful singing. Then came Chess, quite soon after — a completely different character, but within the same creative family — and I got to work with Tommy Körberg, my idol. That’s when I realized: this is probably going to be my life.”
Thirty years have gone by since the world premiere and Helen Sjöholm, like original director Lars Rudolfsson, believes a reinterpretation is due; it’s needed for a piece to stay vivid.
“I’ve heard so many good things about this version — I keep getting texts from people. And I’ve spoken with Tuva,” she says.
The two previously shared the stage in the musical Änglagård (House of Angels).
“And I saw her in Så som i himmelen (As It Is in Heaven), which is close to my heart since I was in the film. She moves me deeply. If I were casting, I’d have chosen Tuva as Kristina.”
These days Helen Sjöholm is busy with a “pocket musical” created with fellow performer Gunilla Backman. Titled Nån måste göra det (Someone Has to Do It), it tells the story of two strong women cleaning out the basement of a library.
“Gunilla and I wanted to do something together, not a concert of musical numbers but a show where we actually play characters.”
The music isn’t new; instead, they’ve chosen songs they aren’t typically associated with, performed to recorded accompaniment since you can’t really fit musicians in a library basement.
“It’s a small, isolated room — minimal set and just the two of us. It’s about civil courage, and what ordinary people have the power to question,” Helen Sjöholm says.
This marks the third time she sees Kristina from Duvemåla as a member of the audience. She once watched her own production while recovering from a sore throat, and later saw the Helsinki version when it toured Stockholm.
“I haven’t listened to the full soundtrack since then. This musical has such a special place in my heart, and it’s one of those roles that just grips you. Seeing it here, in my hometown, feels very emotional,” she said before the show.
And afterwards:
“It was so beautiful. It’s amazing how the body still remembers every movement. I’m impressed by the cast and all the roles — the staging is lovely, and this version tells the story more efficiently than ours since it’s a bit shorter. I’m going home fulfilled and a bit overwhelmed — and so glad I got to see it.”
“Someone Has to Do It“ will be performed in Sundsvall on December 6.
Photo & © Sundsvalls Tidning, Maria Eilertsen
(The entire article is not reproduced for copyright reasons).